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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31826-8.txt b/31826-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1567be1 --- /dev/null +++ b/31826-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7267 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tales from "Blackwood", by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tales from "Blackwood" + +Author: Various + +Release Date: March 30, 2010 [EBook #31826] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD" *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + TALES + FROM + "BLACKWOOD" + + Contents of this Volume + + _The Glenmutchkin Railway. By Professor Aytoun_ + + _Vanderdecken's Message Home_ + + _The Floating Beacon_ + + _Colonna the Painter_ + + _Napoleon. By J. G. Lockhart_ + + _A Legend of Gibraltar. By Col. E. B. Hamley_ + + _The Iron Shroud. By William Mudford_ + + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS + EDINBURGH AND LONDON + + + + +TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD." + + + + + HOW WE GOT UP THE GLENMUTCHKIN RAILWAY + AND HOW WE GOT OUT OF IT + +BY PROFESSOR AYTOUN. + +[_MAGA._ OCTOBER 1845.] + +[The following Tale appeared in the Magazine for October 1845. It was +intended by the writer as a sketch of some of the more striking +features of the railway mania (then in full progress throughout Great +Britain), as exhibited in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Although bearing the +appearance of a burlesque, it was in truth an accurate delineation (as +will be acknowledged by many a gentleman who had the misfortune to be +"out in the Forty-five"); and subsequent disclosures have shown that +it was in no way exaggerated. + +Although the "Glenmutchkin line" was purely imaginary, and not +intended by the writer to apply to any particular scheme then before +the public, it was identified in Scotland with more than one reckless +and impracticable project; and even the characters introduced were +supposed to be typical of personages who had attained some notoriety +in the throng of speculation. Any such resemblances must be considered +as fortuitous; for the writer cannot charge himself with the +discourtesy of individual satire or allusion.] + + +I was confoundedly hard up. My patrimony, never of the largest, had +been for the last year on the decrease--a herald would have emblazoned +it, "ARGENT, a money-bag improper, in detriment"--and though the +attenuating process was not excessively rapid, it was, nevertheless, +proceeding at a steady ratio. As for the ordinary means and appliances +by which men contrive to recruit their exhausted exchequers, I knew +none of them. Work I abhorred with a detestation worthy of a scion of +nobility; and, I believe, you could just as soon have persuaded the +lineal representative of the Howards or Percys to exhibit himself in +the character of a mountebank, as have got me to trust my person on +the pinnacle of a three-legged stool. The rule of three is all very +well for base mechanical souls; but I flatter myself I have an +intellect too large to be limited to a ledger. "Augustus," said my +poor mother to me, while stroking my hyacinthine tresses, one fine +morning, in the very dawn and budding-time of my existence--"Augustus, +my dear boy, whatever you do, never forget that you are a gentleman." +The maternal maxim sunk deeply into my heart, and I never for a moment +have forgotten it. + +Notwithstanding this aristocratic resolution, the great practical +question, "How am I to live?" began to thrust itself unpleasantly +before me. I am one of that unfortunate class who have neither uncles +nor aunts. For me, no yellow liverless individual, with characteristic +bamboo and pigtail--emblems of half-a-million--returned to his native +shores from Ceylon or remote Penang. For me, no venerable spinster +hoarded in the Trongate, permitting herself few luxuries during a +long-protracted life, save a lass and a lanthorn, a parrot, and the +invariable baudrons of antiquity. No such luck was mine. Had all +Glasgow perished by some vast epidemic, I should not have found myself +one farthing the richer. There would have been no golden balsam for me +in the accumulated woes of Tradestown, Shettleston, and Camlachie. The +time has been when--according to Washington Irving and other veracious +historians--a young man had no sooner got into difficulties than a +guardian angel appeared to him in a dream, with the information that +at such and such a bridge, or under such and such a tree, he might +find, at a slight expenditure of labour, a gallipot secured with +bladder, and filled with glittering tomauns; or in the extremity +of despair, the youth had only to append himself to a cord, and +straightway the other end thereof, forsaking its staple in the +roof, would disclose amidst the fractured ceiling the glories of a +profitable pose. These blessed days have long since gone by--at any +rate, no such luck was mine. My guardian angel was either woefully +ignorant of metallurgy or the stores had been surreptitiously +ransacked; and as to the other expedient, I frankly confess I should +have liked some better security for its result, than the precedent +of the "Heir of Lynn." + +It is a great consolation amidst all the evils of life, to know that, +however bad your circumstances may be, there is always somebody else +in nearly the same predicament. My chosen friend and ally, Bob +M'Corkindale, was equally hard up with myself, and, if possible, more +averse to exertion. Bob was essentially a speculative man--that is, in +a philosophical sense. He had once got hold of a stray volume of Adam +Smith, and muddled his brains for a whole week over the intricacies of +the _Wealth of Nations_. The result was a crude farrago of notions +regarding the true nature of money, the soundness of currency, and +relative value of capital, with which he nightly favoured an admiring +audience at "The Crow;" for Bob was by no means--in the literal +acceptation of the word--a dry philosopher. On the contrary, he +perfectly appreciated the merits of each distinct distillery; and was +understood to be the compiler of a statistical work, entitled, _A Tour +through the Alcoholic Districts of Scotland_. It had very early +occurred to me, who knew as much of political economy as of the +bagpipes, that a gentleman so well versed in the art of accumulating +national wealth, must have some remote ideas of applying his +principles profitably on a smaller scale. Accordingly, I gave +M'Corkindale an unlimited invitation to my lodgings; and, like a good +hearty fellow as he was, he availed himself every evening of the +license; for I had laid in a fourteen-gallon cask of Oban whisky, and +the quality of the malt was undeniable. + +These were the first glorious days of general speculation. Railroads +were emerging from the hands of the greater into the fingers of the +lesser capitalists. Two successful harvests had given a fearful +stimulus to the national energy; and it appeared perfectly certain +that all the populous towns would be united, and the rich agricultural +districts intersected, by the magical bands of iron. The columns of +the newspapers teemed every week with the parturition of novel +schemes; and the shares were no sooner announced than they were +rapidly subscribed for. But what is the use of my saying anything more +about the history of last year? Every one of us remembers it perfectly +well. It was a capital year on the whole, and put money into many a +pocket. About that time, Bob and I commenced operations. Our available +capital, or negotiable bullion, in the language of my friend, amounted +to about three hundred pounds, which we set aside as a joint fund for +speculation. Bob, in a series of learned discourses, had convinced me +that it was not only folly, but a positive sin, to leave this sum +lying in the bank at a pitiful rate of interest, and otherwise +unemployed, whilst every one else in the kingdom was having a pluck at +the public pigeon. Somehow or other, we were unlucky in our first +attempts. Speculators are like wasps; for when they have once got hold +of a ripening and peach-like project, they keep it rigidly for their +own swarm, and repel the approach of interlopers. Notwithstanding all +our efforts, and very ingenious ones they were, we never, in a single +instance, succeeded in procuring an allocation of original shares; and +though we did now and then make a hit by purchase, we more frequently +bought at a premium, and parted with our scrip at a discount. At the +end of six months, we were not twenty pounds richer than before. + +"This will never do," said Bob, as he sat one evening in my rooms +compounding his second tumbler. "I thought we were living in an +enlightened age; but I find I was mistaken. That brutal spirit of +monopoly is still abroad and uncurbed. The principles of free-trade +are utterly forgotten, or misunderstood. Else how comes it that David +Spreul received but yesterday an allocation of two hundred shares in +the Westermidden Junction; whilst your application and mine, for a +thousand each, were overlooked? Is this a state of things to be +tolerated? Why should he, with his fifty thousand pounds, receive a +slapping premium, whilst our three hundred of available capital +remains unrepresented? The fact is monstrous, and demands the +immediate and serious interference of the legislature." + +"It is a burning shame," said I, fully alive to the manifold +advantages of a premium. + +"I'll tell you what, Dunshunner," rejoined M'Corkindale, "it's no use +going on in this way. We haven't shown half pluck enough. These +fellows consider us as snobs, because we don't take the bull by the +horns. Now's the time for a bold stroke. The public are quite ready to +subscribe for anything--and we'll start a railway for ourselves." + +"Start a railway with three hundred pounds of capital!" + +"Pshaw, man! you don't know what you're talking about--we've a great +deal more capital than that. Have not I told you seventy times over, +that everything a man has--his coat, his hat, the tumblers he drinks +from, nay, his very corporeal existence--is absolute marketable +capital? What do you call that fourteen-gallon cask, I should like to +know?" + +"A compound of hoops and staves, containing about a quart and a half +of spirits--you have effectually accounted for the rest." + +"Then it has gone to the fund of profit and loss, that's all. +Never let me hear you sport those old theories again. Capital is +indestructible, as I am ready to prove to you any day, in half an +hour. But let us sit down seriously to business. We are rich enough to +pay for the advertisements, and that is all we need care for in the +mean time. The public is sure to step in, and bear us out handsomely +with the rest." + +"But where in the face of the habitable globe shall the railway be? +England is out of the question, and I hardly know a spot in the +Lowlands that is not occupied already." + +"What do you say to a Spanish scheme--the Alcantara Union? Hang me +if I know whether Alcantara is in Spain or Portugal; but nobody +else does, and the one is quite as good as the other. Or what would +you think of the Palermo Railway, with a branch to the sulphur +mines?--that would be popular in the North--or the Pyrenees Direct? +They would all go to a premium." + +"I must confess I should prefer a line at home." + +"Well, then, why not try the Highlands? There must be lots of traffic +there in the shape of sheep, grouse, and Cockney tourists, not to +mention salmon and other et-ceteras. Couldn't we tip them a railway +somewhere in the west?" + +"There's Glenmutchkin, for instance----" + +"Capital, my dear fellow! Glorious! By Jove, first-rate!" shouted Bob +in an ecstasy of delight. "There's a distillery there, you know, and a +fishing-village at the foot--at least there used to be six years ago, +when I was living with the exciseman. There may be some bother about +the population, though. The last laird shipped every mother's son of +the aboriginal Celts to America; but, after all, that's not of much +consequence. I see the whole thing! Unrivalled scenery--stupendous +waterfalls--herds of black cattle--spot where Prince Charles Edward +met Macgrugar of Glengrugar and his clan! We could not possibly have +lighted on a more promising place. Hand us over that sheet of paper, +like a good fellow, and a pen. There is no time to be lost, and the +sooner we get out the prospectus the better." + +"But, heaven bless you, Bob, there's a great deal to be thought of +first. Who are we to get for a Provisional Committee?" + +"That's very true," said Bob, musingly. "We _must_ treat them to some +respectable names, that is, good sounding ones. I'm afraid there is +little chance of our producing a Peer to begin with?" + +"None whatever--unless we could invent one, and that's hardly +safe--_Burke's Peerage_ has gone through too many editions. Couldn't +we try the Dormants?" + +"That would be rather dangerous in the teeth of the standing orders. +But what do you say to a baronet? There's Sir Polloxfen Tremens. He +got himself served the other day to a Nova Scotia baronetcy, with just +as much title as you or I have; and he has sported the riband, and +dined out on the strength of it ever since. He'll join us at once, for +he has not a sixpence to lose." + +"Down with him, then," and we headed the Provisional list with the +pseudo Orange-tawny. + +"Now," said Bob, "it's quite indispensable, as this is a Highland +line, that we should put forward a Chief or two. That has always a +great effect upon the English, whose feudal notions are rather of the +mistiest, and principally derived from Waverley." + +"Why not write yourself down as the Laird of M'Corkindale?" said I. "I +daresay you would not be negatived by a counter-claim." + +"That would hardly do," replied Bob, "as I intend to be Secretary. +After all, what's the use of thinking about it? Here goes for an +extempore Chief;" and the villain wrote down the name of Tavish +M'Tavish of Invertavish. + +"I say, though," said I, "we must have a real Highlander on the list. +If we go on this way, it will become a Justiciary matter." + +"You're devilish scrupulous, Gus," said Bob, who, if left to himself, +would have stuck in the names of the heathen gods and goddesses, or +borrowed his directors from the Ossianic chronicles, rather than have +delayed the prospectus. "Where the mischief are we to find the men? I +can think of no others likely to go the whole hog; can you?" + +"I don't know a single Celt in Glasgow except old M'Closkie, the +drunken porter at the corner of Jamaica Street." + +"He's the very man! I suppose, after the manner of his tribe, he will +do anything for a pint of whisky. But what shall we call him? Jamaica +Street, I fear, will hardly do for a designation." + +"Call him THE M'CLOSKIE. It will be sonorous in the ears of the +Saxon!" + +"Bravo!" and another Chief was added to the roll of the clans. + +"Now," said Bob, "we must put you down. Recollect, all the +management--that is, the allocation--will be intrusted to you. +Augustus--you haven't a middle name, I think?--well, then, suppose we +interpolate 'Reginald;' it has a smack of the Crusades. Augustus +Reginald Dunshunner, Esq. of--where, in the name of Munchausen!" + +"I'm sure I don't know. I never had any land beyond the contents of a +flower-pot. Stay--I rather think I have a superiority somewhere about +Paisley." + +"Just the thing," cried Bob. "It's heritable property, and therefore +titular. What's the denomination?" + +"St Mirrens." + +"Beautiful! Dunshunner of St Mirrens, I give you joy! Had you +discovered that a little sooner--and I wonder you did not think of +it--we might both of us have had lots of allocations. These are not +the times to conceal hereditary distinctions. But now comes the +serious work. We must have one or two men of known wealth upon the +list. The chaff is nothing without a decoy-bird. Now, can't you help +me with a name?" + +"In that case," said I, "the game is up, and the whole scheme +exploded. I would as soon undertake to evoke the Ghost of Croesus." + +"Dunshunner," said Bob very seriously, "to be a man of information, +you are possessed of marvellous few resources. I am quite ashamed of +you. Now listen to me. I have thought deeply upon this subject, and am +quite convinced that, with some little trouble, we may secure the +co-operation of a most wealthy and influential body--one, too, that is +generally supposed to have stood aloof from all speculation of the +kind, and whose name would be a tower of strength in the moneyed +quarters. I allude," continued Bob, reaching across for the kettle, +"to the great Dissenting Interest." + +"The what?" cried I, aghast. + +"The great Dissenting Interest. You can't have failed to observe the +row they have lately been making about Sunday travelling and +education. Old Sam Sawley, the coffin-maker, is their principal +spokesman here; and wherever he goes the rest will follow, like a +flock of sheep bounding after a patriarchal ram. I propose, therefore, +to wait upon him to-morrow, and request his co-operation in a scheme +which is not only to prove profitable, but to make head against the +lax principles of the present age. Leave me alone to tickle him. I +consider his name, and those of one or two others belonging to the +same meeting-house--fellows with bank-stock, and all sorts of tin, as +perfectly secure. These dissenters smell a premium from an almost +incredible distance. We can fill up the rest of the committee with +ciphers, and the whole thing is done." + +"But the engineer--we must announce such an officer as a matter of +course." + +"I never thought of that," said Bob. "Couldn't we hire a fellow from +one of the steamboats?" + +"I fear that might get us into trouble: You know there are such things +as gradients and sections to be prepared. But there's Watty Solder, +the gas-fitter, who failed the other day. He's a sort of civil +engineer by trade, and will jump at the proposal like a trout at the +tail of a May fly." + +"Agreed. Now, then, let's fix the number of shares. This is our first +experiment, and I think we ought to be moderate. No sound political +economist is avaricious. Let us say twelve thousand, at twenty pounds +a-piece." + +"So be it." + +"Well, then, that's arranged. I'll see Sawley and the rest to-morrow; +settle with Solder, and then write out the prospectus. You look in +upon me in the evening, and we'll revise it together. Now, by your +leave, let's have in the Welsh rabbit and another tumbler to drink +success and prosperity to the Glenmutchkin Railway." + +I confess that, when I rose on the morrow, with a slight headache and +a tongue indifferently parched, I recalled to memory, not without +perturbation of conscience, and some internal qualms, the conversation +of the previous evening. I felt relieved, however, after two spoonfuls +of carbonate of soda, and a glance at the newspaper, wherein I +perceived the announcement of no less than four other schemes equally +preposterous with our own. But, after all, what right had I to assume +that the Glenmutchkin project would prove an ultimate failure? I had +not a scrap of statistical information that might entitle me to form +such an opinion. At any rate, Parliament, by substituting the Board of +Trade as an initiating body of inquiry, had created a responsible +tribunal, and freed us from the chance of obloquy. I saw before me a +vision of six months' steady gambling, at manifest advantage, in the +shares, before a report could possibly be pronounced, or our +proceedings be in any way overhauled. Of course I attended that +evening punctually at my friend M'Corkindale's. Bob was in high +feather; for Sawley no sooner heard of the principles upon which the +railway was to be conducted, and his own nomination as a director, +than he gave in his adhesion, and promised his unflinching support to +the uttermost. The Prospectus ran as follows:-- + + "DIRECT GLENMUTCHKIN RAILWAY. + IN 12,000 SHARES OF £20 EACH. DEPOSIT £1 PER SHARE + + _Provisional Committee._ + + SIR POLLOXFEN TREMENS, Bart. of Toddymains. + TAVISH M'TAVISH of Invertavish. + THE M'CLOSKIE. + AUGUSTUS REGINALD DUNSHUNNER, Esq. of St Mirrens. + SAMUEL SAWLEY, Esq., Merchant. + MHIC-MHAC-VICH-INDUIBH. + PHELIM O'FINLAN, Esq. of Castle-rook, Ireland. + THE CAPTAIN of M'ALCOHOL. + FACTOR for GLENTUMBLERS. + JOHN JOB JOBSON, Esq., Manufacturer. + EVAN M'CLAW of Glenscart and Inveryewky. + JOSEPH HECKLES, Esq. + HABBAKUK GRABBIE, Portioner in Ramoth-Drumclog. + + _Engineer_--WALTER SOLDER, Esq. + _Interim-Secretary_--ROBERT M'CORKINDALE, Esq. + + "The necessity of a direct line of Railway communication + through the fertile and populous district known as the + VALLEY of GLENMUTCHKIN, has been long felt and universally + acknowledged. Independently of the surpassing grandeur of + its mountain scenery, which shall immediately be referred + to, and other considerations of even greater importance, + GLENMUTCHKIN is known to the capitalist as the most + important BREEDING STATION in the Highlands of Scotland, and + indeed as the great emporium from which the southern markets + are supplied. It has been calculated by a most eminent + authority, that every acre in the strath is capable of + rearing twenty head of cattle; and, as has been ascertained + after a careful admeasurement, that there are not less than + TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND improvable acres immediately contiguous + to the proposed line of Railway, it may confidently be + assumed that the number of cattle to be conveyed along the + line will amount to FOUR MILLIONS annually, which, at the + lowest estimate, would yield a revenue larger, in proportion + to the capital subscribed, than that of any Railway as yet + completed within the United Kingdom. From this estimate the + traffic in Sheep and Goats, with which the mountains are + literally covered, has been carefully excluded, it having + been found quite impossible (from its extent) to compute the + actual revenue to be drawn from that most important branch. + It may, however, be roughly assumed as from seventeen to + nineteen per cent upon the whole, after deduction of the + working expenses. + + "The population of Glenmutchkin is extremely dense. Its + situation on the west coast has afforded it the means of + direct communication with America, of which for many years + the inhabitants have actively availed themselves. Indeed, + the amount of exportation of live stock from this part of + the Highlands to the Western continent, has more than once + attracted the attention of Parliament. The Manufactures + are large and comprehensive, and include the most famous + distilleries in the world. The Minerals are most abundant, + and amongst these may be reckoned quartz, porphyry, felspar, + malachite, manganese, and basalt. + + "At the foot of the valley, and close to the sea, lies the + important village known as the CLACHAN of INVERSTARVE. It is + supposed by various eminent antiquaries to have been the + capital of the Picts, and, amongst the busy inroads of + commercial prosperity, it still retains some interesting + traces of its former grandeur. There is a large fishing + station here, to which vessels from every nation resort, and + the demand for foreign produce is daily and steadily + increasing. + + "As a sporting country Glenmutchkin is unrivalled; but it + is by the tourists that its beauties will most greedily be + sought. These consist of every combination which plastic + nature can afford--cliffs of unusual magnitude and + grandeur--waterfalls only second to the sublime cascades of + Norway--woods, of which the bark is a remarkable valuable + commodity. It need scarcely be added, to rouse the + enthusiasm inseparable from this glorious glen, that here, + in 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, then in the zenith of + his hopes, was joined by the brave Sir Grugar M'Grugar at + the head of his devoted clan. + + "The Railway will be twelve miles long, and can be completed + within six months after the Act of Parliament is obtained. + The gradients are easy, and the curves obtuse. There are no + viaducts of any importance, and only four tunnels along the + whole length of the line. The shortest of these does not + exceed a mile and a half. + + "In conclusion, the projectors of this Railway beg to state + that they have determined, as a principle, to set their face + AGAINST ALL SUNDAY TRAVELLING WHATSOEVER, and to oppose + EVERY BILL which may hereafter be brought into Parliament, + unless it shall contain a clause to that effect. It is also + their intention to take up the cause of the poor and + neglected STOKER, for whose accommodation, and social, + moral, religious, and intellectual improvement, a large + stock of evangelical tracts will speedily be required. + Tenders of these, in quantities of not less than 12,000, may + be sent in to the Interim Secretary. Shares must be applied + for within ten days from the present date. + + "By order of the Provisional Committee, + "ROBT. M'CORKINDALE, _Secretary_." + +"There!" said Bob, slapping down the prospectus on the table, with as +much triumph as if it had been the original of Magna Charta--"What do +you think of that? If it doesn't do the business effectually, I shall +submit to be called a Dutchman. That last touch about the stoker will +bring us in the subscriptions of the old ladies by the score." + +"Very masterly, indeed," said I. "But who the deuce is +Mhic-Mhac-vich-Induibh?" + +"A _bona fide_ chief, I assure you, though a little reduced: I picked +him up upon the Broomielaw. His grandfather had an island somewhere to +the west of the Hebrides; but it is not laid down in the maps." + +"And the Captain of M'Alcohol?" + +"A crack distiller." + +"And the Factor for Glentumblers?" + +"His principal customer. But, bless you, my dear St Mirrens! don't +bother yourself any more about the committee. They are as respectable +a set--on paper at least--as you would wish to see of a summer's +morning, and the beauty of it is that they will give us no manner of +trouble. Now about the allocation. You and I must restrict ourselves +to a couple of thousand shares a-piece. That's only a third of the +whole, but it won't do to be greedy." + +"But, Bob, consider! Where on earth are we to find the money to pay up +the deposits?" + +"Can you, the principal director of the Glenmutchkin Railway, ask me, +the secretary, such a question? Don't you know that any of the banks +will give us tick to the amount 'of half the deposits.' All that is +settled already, and you can get your two thousand pounds whenever you +please merely for the signing of a bill. Sawley must get a thousand +according to stipulation--Jobson, Heckles, and Grabbie, at least five +hundred a-piece, and another five hundred, I should think, will +exhaust the remaining means of the committee. So that, out of our +whole stock, there remain just five thousand shares to be allocated to +the speculative and evangelical public. My eyes! won't there be a +scramble for them!" + +Next day our prospectus appeared in the newspapers. It was read, +canvassed, and generally approved of. During the afternoon, I took an +opportunity of looking into the Tontine, and whilst under shelter of +the _Glasgow Herald_, my ears were solaced with such ejaculations as +the following:-- + +"I say, Jimsy, hae ye seen this grand new prospectus for a railway tae +Glenmutchkin?" + +"Ay--it looks no that ill. The Hieland lairds are pitting their best +fit foremost. Will ye apply for shares?" + +"I think I'll tak' twa hundred. Wha's Sir Polloxfen Tremens?" + +"He'll be yin o' the Ayrshire folk. He used to rin horses at the +Paisley races." + +("The devil he did!" thought I.) + +"D'ye ken ony o' the directors, Jimsy?" + +"I ken Sawley fine. Ye may depend on't, it's a gude thing if he's +in't, for he's a howkin' body." + +"Then it's sure to gae up. What prem. d'ye think it will bring?" + +"Twa pund a share, and maybe mair." + +"'Od, I'll apply for three hundred!" + +"Heaven bless you, my dear countrymen!" thought I as I sallied forth +to refresh myself with a basin of soup, "do but maintain this liberal +and patriotic feeling--this thirst for national improvement, internal +communication, and premiums--a short while longer, and I know whose +fortune will be made." + +On the following morning my breakfast-table was covered with shoals of +letters, from fellows whom I scarcely ever had spoken to--or who, to +use a franker phraseology, had scarcely ever condescended to speak to +me--entreating my influence as a director to obtain them shares in the +new undertaking. I never bore malice in my life, so I chalked them +down, without favouritism, for a certain proportion. Whilst engaged in +this charitable work, the door flew open, and M'Corkindale, looking +utterly haggard with excitement, rushed in. + +"You may buy an estate whenever you please, Dunshunner," cried he, +"the world's gone perfectly mad! I have been to Blazes the broker, and +he tells me that the whole amount of the stock has been subscribed for +four times over already, and he has not yet got in the returns from +Edinburgh and Liverpool!" + +"Are they good names though, Bob--sure cards--none of your M'Closkies, +and M'Alcohols?" + +"The first names in the city, I assure you, and most of them holders +for investment. I wouldn't take ten millions for their capital." + +"Then the sooner we close the list the better." + +"I think so too. I suspect a rival company will be out before long. +Blazes says the shares are selling already conditionally on allotment, +at seven-and-sixpence premium." + +"The deuce they are! I say, Bob, since we have the cards in our hands, +would it not be wise to favour them with a few hundreds at that rate? +A bird in the hand, you know, is worth two in the bush, eh?" + +"I know no such maxim in political economy," replied the secretary. +"Are you mad, Dunshunner? How are the shares ever to go up, if it gets +wind that the directors are selling already? Our business just now, is +to _bull_ the line, not to _bear_ it; and if you will trust me, I +shall show them such an operation on the ascending scale, as the Stock +Exchange has not witnessed for this long and many a day. Then, +to-morrow, I shall advertise in the papers that the committee, having +received applications for ten times the amount of stock, have been +compelled, unwillingly, to close the lists. That will be a slap in the +face to the dilatory gentlemen, and send up the shares like wildfire." + +Bob was right. No sooner did the advertisement appear, than a +simultaneous groan was uttered by some hundreds of disappointed +speculators, who with unwonted and unnecessary caution had been +anxious to see their way a little before committing themselves to our +splendid enterprise. In consequence, they rushed into the market, with +intense anxiety to make what terms they could at the earliest stage, +and the seven-and-sixpence of premium was doubled in the course of a +forenoon. + +The allocation passed over very peaceably. Sawley, Heckles, Jobson, +Grabbie, and the Captain of M'Alcohol, besides myself, attended, and +took part in the business. We were also threatened with the presence +of the M'Closkie and Vich-Induibh; but M'Corkindale, entertaining some +reasonable doubts as to the effect which their corporeal appearance +might have upon the representatives of the dissenting interest, had +taken the precaution to get them snugly housed in a tavern, where an +unbounded supply of gratuitous Ferintosh deprived us of the benefit of +their experience. We, however, allotted them twenty shares a-piece. +Sir Polloxfen Tremens sent a handsome, though rather illegible letter +of apology, dated from an island in Lochlomond, where he was said to +be detained on particular business. + +Mr Sawley, who officiated as our chairman, was kind enough, before +parting, to pass a very flattering eulogium upon the excellence and +candour of all the preliminary arrangements. It would now, he said, +go forth to the public that this line was not, like some others he +could mention, a mere bubble, emanating from the stank of private +interest, but a solid, lasting superstructure, based upon the +principles of sound return for capital, and serious evangelical truth +(hear, hear). The time was fast approaching, when the gravestone, with +the words "HIC OBIIT" chiselled upon it, would be placed at the head +of all the other lines which rejected the grand opportunity of +conveying education to the stoker. The stoker, in his (Mr Sawley's) +opinion, had a right to ask the all-important question, "Am I not a +man and a brother?" (Cheers). Much had been said and written lately +about a work called _Tracts for the Times_. With the opinions +contained in that publication he was not conversant, as it was +conducted by persons of another community from that to which he (Mr +Sawley) had the privilege to belong. But he hoped very soon, under the +auspices of the Glenmutchkin Railway Company, to see a new periodical +established, under the title of _Tracts for the Trains_. He never for +a moment would relax his efforts to knock a nail into the coffin, +which, he might say, was already made, and measured, and cloth-covered +for the reception of all establishments; and with these sentiments, +and the conviction that the shares must rise, could it be doubted that +he would remain a fast friend to the interests of this Company for +ever? (Much cheering.) + +After having delivered this address, Mr Sawley affectionately squeezed +the hands of his brother directors, and departed, leaving several of +us much overcome. As, however, M'Corkindale had told me that every +one of Sawley's shares had been disposed of in the market the day +before, I felt less compunction at having refused to allow that +excellent man an extra thousand beyond the amount he had applied for, +notwithstanding of his broadest hints, and even private entreaties. + +"Confound the greedy hypocrite!" said Bob; "does he think we shall let +him Burke the line for nothing? No--no! I let him go to the brokers +and buy his shares back, if he thinks they are likely to rise. I'll be +bound he has made a cool five hundred out of them already." + +On the day which succeeded the allocation, the following entry +appeared in the Glasgow share-lists. "Direct Glenmutchkin Railway 15s. +15s. 6d. 15s. 6d. 16s. 15s. 6d. 16s. 16s. 6d. 16s. 6d. 16s. 17s. 18s. +18s. 19s. 6d. 21s. 21s. 22s. 6d. 24s. 25s. 6d. 27s. 29s. 29s. 6d. 30s. +31s. pm." + +"They might go higher, and they ought to go higher," said Bob +musingly; "but there's not much more stock to come and go upon, and +these two share-sharks, Jobson and Grabbie, I know, will be in the +market to-morrow. We must not let them have the whip-hand of us. I +think upon the whole, Dunshunner, though it's letting them go dog +cheap, that we ought to sell half our shares at the present premium, +whilst there is a certainty of getting it." + +"Why not sell the whole? I'm sure I have no objections to part with +every stiver of the scrip on such terms." + +"Perhaps," said Bob, "upon general principles you may be right; but +then remember that we have a vested interest in the line." + +"Vested interest be hanged!" + +"That's very well--at the same time it is no use to kill your salmon +in a hurry. The bulls have done their work pretty well for us, and we +ought to keep something on hand for the bears; they are snuffing at it +already. I could almost swear that some of those fellows who have sold +to-day are working for a time-bargain." + +We accordingly got rid of a couple of thousand shares, the proceeds of +which not only enabled us to discharge the deposit loan, but left us a +material surplus. Under these circumstances, a two-handed banquet was +proposed and unanimously carried, the commencement of which I +distinctly remember, but am rather dubious as to the end. So many +stories have lately been circulated to the prejudice of railway +directors, that I think it my duty to state that this entertainment +was scrupulously defrayed by ourselves, and _not_ carried to account, +either of the preliminary survey, or the expenses of the provisional +committee. + +Nothing effects so great a metamorphosis in the bearing of the outer +man, as a sudden change of fortune. The anemone of the garden differs +scarcely more from its unpretending prototype of the woods, than +Robert M'Corkindale, Esq., Secretary and Projector of the Glenmutchkin +Railway, differed from Bob M'Corkindale, the seedy frequenter of "The +Crow." In the days of yore, men eyed the surtout--napless at the +velvet collar, and preternaturally white at the seams--which Bob +vouchsafed to wear, with looks of dim suspicion, as if some faint +reminiscence, similar to that which is said to recall the memory of a +former state of existence, suggested to them a notion that the garment +had once been their own. Indeed, his whole appearance was then +wonderfully second-hand. Now he had cast his slough. A most undeniable +Taglioni, with trimmings just bordering upon frogs, gave dignity to +his demeanour and twofold amplitude to his chest. The horn eyeglass +was exchanged for one of purest gold, the dingy high-lows for +well-waxed Wellingtons, the Paisley fogle for the fabric of the China +loom. Moreover, he walked with a swagger, and affected in common +conversation a peculiar dialect which he opined to be the purest +English, but which no one--except a bagman--could be reasonably +expected to understand. His pockets were invariably crammed with +share-lists; and he quoted, if he did not comprehend, the money +article from the _Times_. This sort of assumption, though very +ludicrous in itself, goes down wonderfully. Bob gradually became a +sort of authority, and his opinions got quoted on 'Change. He was no +ass, notwithstanding his peculiarities, and made good use of his +opportunity. + +For myself, I bore my new dignities with an air of modest meekness. A +certain degree of starchness is indispensable for a railway director, +if he means to go forward in his high calling and prosper; he must +abandon all juvenile eccentricities, and aim at the appearance of a +decided enemy to free trade in the article of Wild Oats. Accordingly, +as the first step towards respectability, I eschewed coloured +waistcoats, and gave out that I was a marrying man. No man under +forty, unless he is a positive idiot, will stand forth as a XXXX +theoretical bachelor. It is all nonsense to say that there is anything +unpleasant in being courted. Attention, whether from male or female, +tickles the vanity; and although I have a reasonable, and, I hope, not +unwholesome regard for the gratification of my other appetites, I +confess that this same vanity is by far the most poignant of the +whole. I therefore surrendered myself freely to the soft allurements +thrown in my way by such matronly denizens of Glasgow as were +possessed of stock in the shape of marriageable daughters; and walked +the more readily into their toils, because every party, though +nominally for the purposes of tea, wound up with a hot supper, and +something hotter still by way of assisting the digestion. + +I don't know whether it was my determined conduct at the allocation, +my territorial title, or a most exaggerated idea of my circumstances, +that worked upon the mind of Mr Sawley. Possibly it was a combination +of the three; but sure enough few days had elapsed before I received a +formal card of invitation to a tea and serious conversation. Now +serious conversation is a sort of thing that I never shone in, +possibly because my early studies were framed in a different +direction; but as I really was unwilling to offend the respectable +coffin-maker, and as I found that the Captain of M'Alcohol--a decided +trump in his way--had also received a summons, I notified my +acceptance. + +M'Alcohol and I went together. The Captain, an enormous brawny Celt, +with superhuman whiskers, and a shock of the fieriest hair, had figged +himself out, _more majorum_, in the full Highland costume. I never saw +Rob Roy on the stage look half so dignified or ferocious. He glittered +from head to foot, with dirk, pistol, and skean-dhu, and at least a +hundred-weight of cairngorms cast a prismatic glory around his person. +I felt quite abashed beside him. + +We were ushered into Mr Sawley's drawing-room. Round the walls, and at +considerable distances from each other, were seated about a dozen +characters, male and female, all of them dressed in sable, and wearing +countenances of woe. Sawley advanced, and wrung me by the hand with so +piteous an expression of visage, that I could not help thinking some +awful catastrophe had just befallen his family. + +"You are welcome, Mr Dunshunner--welcome to my humble tabernacle. Let +me present you to Mrs Sawley"--and a lady, who seemed to have bathed +in the Yellow Sea, rose from her seat, and favoured me with a profound +curtsy. + +"My daughter--Miss Selina Sawley." + +I felt in my brain the scorching glance of the two darkest eyes it +ever was my fortune to behold, as the beauteous Selina looked up from +the perusal of her handkerchief hem. It was a pity that the other +features were not corresponding; for the nose was flat, and the mouth +of such dimensions, that a Harlequin might have jumped down it with +impunity--but the eyes _were_ splendid. + +In obedience to a sign from the hostess, I sank into a chair beside +Selina; and not knowing exactly what to say, hazarded some observation +about the weather. + +"Yes, it is indeed a suggestive season. How deeply, Mr Dunshunner, we +ought to feel the pensive progress of autumn towards a soft and +premature decay! I always think, about this time of the year, that +nature is falling into a consumption!" + +"To be sure, ma'am," said I, rather taken aback by this style of +colloquy, "the trees are looking devilishly hectic." + +"Ah, you have remarked that too! Strange! it was but yesterday that I +was wandering through Kelvin Grove, and as the phantom breeze brought +down the withered foliage from the spray, I thought how probable it +was that they might ere long rustle over young and glowing hearts +deposited prematurely in the tomb!" + +This, which struck me as a very passable imitation of Dickens's +pathetic writings, was a poser. In default of language, I looked Miss +Sawley straight in the face, and attempted a substitute for a sigh. I +was rewarded with a tender glance. + +"Ah!" said she, "I see you are a congenial spirit. How delightful, and +yet how rare it is to meet with any one who thinks in unison with +yourself! Do you ever walk in the Necropolis, Mr Dunshunner? It is my +favourite haunt of a morning. There we can wean ourselves, as it were, +from life, and, beneath the melancholy yew and cypress, anticipate the +setting star. How often there have I seen the procession--the funeral +of some very, very little child"---- + +"Selina, my love," said Mrs Sawley, "have the kindness to ring for the +cookies." + +I, as in duty bound, started up to save the fair enthusiast the +trouble, and was not sorry to observe my seat immediately occupied by +a very cadaverous gentleman, who was evidently jealous of the progress +I was rapidly making. Sawley, with an air of great mystery, informed +me that this was a Mr Dalgleish of Raxmathrapple, the representative +of an ancient Scottish family who claimed an important heritable +office. The name, I thought, was familiar to me, but there was +something in the appearance of Mr Dalgleish which, notwithstanding the +smiles of Miss Selina, rendered a rivalship in that quarter utterly +out of the question. + +I hate injustice, so let me do due honour in description to the Sawley +banquet. The tea-urn most literally corresponded to its name. The +table was decked out with divers platters, containing seed-cakes cut +into rhomboids, almond biscuits, and ratafia drops. Also, on the +sideboard, there were two salvers, each of which contained a +congregation of glasses, filled with port and sherry. The former +fluid, as I afterwards ascertained, was of the kind advertised as +"curious," and proffered for sale at the reasonable rate of sixteen +shillings per dozen. The banquet, on the whole, was rather peculiar +than enticing; and, for the life of me, I could not divest myself of +the idea that the selfsame viands had figured, not long before, as +funeral refreshments at a dirgie. No such suspicion seemed to cross +the mind of M'Alcohol, who hitherto had remained uneasily surveying +his nails in a corner, but at the first symptom of food started +forwards, and was in the act of making a clean sweep of the china, +when Sawley proposed the singular preliminary of a hymn. + +The hymn was accordingly sung. I am thankful to say it was such a +one as I never heard before, or expect to hear again; and unless +it was composed by the Reverend Saunders Peden in an hour of paroxysm +on the moors, I cannot conjecture the author. After this original +symphony, tea was discussed, and after tea, to my amazement, more hot +brandy-and-water than I ever remember to have seen circulated at the +most convivial party. Of course this effected a radical change in the +spirits and conversation of the circle. It was again my lot to be +placed by the side of the fascinating Selina, whose sentimentality +gradually thawed away beneath the influence of sundry sips, which +she accepted with a delicate reluctance. This time Dalgleish of +Raxmathrapple had not the remotest chance. M'Alcohol got furious, sang +Gaelic songs, and even delivered a sermon in genuine Erse, without +incurring a rebuke; whilst, for my own part, I must needs confess that +I waxed unnecessarily amorous, and the last thing I recollect was the +pressure of Mr Sawley's hand at the door, as he denominated me his +dear boy, and hoped I would soon come back and visit Mrs Sawley and +Selina. The recollection of these passages next morning was the surest +antidote to my return. + +Three weeks had elapsed, and still the Glenmutchkin Railway shares +were at a premium, though rather lower than when we sold. Our +engineer, Watty Solder, returned from his first survey of the line, +along with an assistant who really appeared to have some remote +glimmerings of the science and practice of mensuration. It seemed, +from a verbal report, that the line was actually practicable; and the +survey would have been completed in a very short time--"If," according +to the account of Solder, "there had been ae hoos in the glen. But +ever sin' the distillery stoppit--and that was twa year last +Martinmas--there wasna a hole whaur a Christian could lay his head, +muckle less get white sugar to his toddy, forbye the change-house at +the clachan; and the auld luckie that keepit it was sair forfochten +wi' the palsy, and maist in the dead-thraws. There was naebody else +living within twal miles o' the line, barring a taxman, a lamiter, +and a bauldie." + +We had some difficulty in preventing Mr Solder from making this report +open and patent to the public, which premature disclosure might have +interfered materially with the preparation of our traffic tables, not +to mention the marketable value of the shares. We therefore kept him +steadily at work out of Glasgow, upon a very liberal allowance, to +which, apparently, he did not object. + +"Dunshunner," said M'Corkindale to me one day, "I suspect that there +is something going on about our railway more than we are aware of. +Have you observed that the shares are preternaturally high just now?" + +"So much the better. Let's sell." + +"I did so this morning--both yours and mine, at two pounds ten +shillings premium." + +"The deuce you did! Then we're out of the whole concern." + +"Not quite. If my suspicions are correct, there's a good deal more +money yet to be got from the speculation. Somebody has been bulling +the stock without orders; and, as they can have no information which +we are not perfectly up to, depend upon it, it is done for a purpose. +I suspect Sawley and his friends. They have never been quite happy +since the allocation; and I caught him yesterday pumping our broker in +the back shop. We'll see in a day or two. If they are beginning a +bearing operation, I know how to catch them." + +And, in effect, the bearing operation commenced. Next day, heavy +sales were effected for delivery in three weeks; and the stock, +as if water-logged, began to sink. The same thing continued for the +following two days, until the premium became nearly nominal. In the +mean time, Bob and I, in conjunction with two leading capitalists +whom we let into the secret, bought up steadily every share that was +offered; and at the end of a fortnight we found that we had purchased +rather more than double the amount of the whole original stock. Sawley +and his disciples, who, as M'Corkindale suspected, were at the bottom +of the whole transaction, having beared to their heart's content, +now came into the market to purchase, in order to redeem their +engagements. The following extracts from the weekly share-lists will +show the result of their endeavours to regain their lost position:-- + + Sat. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Frid. Sat. + + GLENMUTCHKIN + RAIL., £1 paid, 1-1/8 | 2-1/4 | 4-3/8 | 7-1/2 | 10-3/4 | 15-3/8 | 17, + +and Monday was the day of delivery. + +I have no means of knowing in what frame of mind Mr Sawley spent the +Sunday, or whether he had recourse for mental consolation to Peden; +but on Monday morning he presented himself at my door in full funeral +costume, with about a quarter of a mile of crape swathed round his +hat, black gloves, and a countenance infinitely more doleful than if +he had been attending the interment of his beloved wife. + +"Walk in, Mr Sawley," said I cheerfully. "What a long time it is since +I have had the pleasure of seeing you--too long indeed for brother +directors. How are Mrs Sawley and Miss Selina--won't you take a cup of +coffee?" + +"Grass, sir, grass!" said Mr Sawley, with a sigh like the groan of a +furnace-bellows. "We are all flowers of the oven--weak, erring +creatures, every one of us. Ah! Mr Dunshunner! you have been a great +stranger at Lykewake Terrace!" + +"Take a muffin, Mr Sawley. Anything new in the railway world?" + +"Ah, my dear sir--my good Mr Augustus Reginald--I wanted to have some +serious conversation with you on that very point. I am afraid there is +something far wrong indeed in the present state of our stock." + +"Why, to be sure it is high; but that, you know, is a token of the +public confidence in the line. After all, the rise is nothing compared +to that of several English railways; and individually, I suppose, +neither of us have any reason to complain." + +"I don't like it," said Sawley, watching me over the margin of his +coffee-cup. "I don't like it. It savours too much of gambling for a +man of my habits. Selina, who is a sensible girl, has serious qualms +on the subject." + +"Then why not get out of it? I have no objection to run the risk, and +if you like to transact with me, I will pay you ready money for every +share you have at the present market price." + +Sawley writhed uneasily in his chair. + +"Will you sell me five hundred, Mr Sawley? Say the word and it is a +bargain." + +"A time bargain?" quavered the coffin-maker. + +"No. Money down, and scrip handed over." + +"I--I can't. The fact is, my dear young friend, I have sold all my +stock already!" + +"Then permit me to ask, Mr Sawley, what possible objection you can +have to the present aspect of affairs? You do not surely suppose that +we are going to issue new shares and bring down the market, simply +because you have realised at a handsome premium?" + +"A handsome premium! O Lord!" moaned Sawley. + +"Why, what did you get for them?" + +"Four, three, and two and a half." + +"A very considerable profit indeed," said I; "and you ought to be +abundantly thankful. We shall talk this matter over at another time, +Mr Sawley, but just now I must beg you to excuse me. I have a +particular engagement this morning with my broker--rather a heavy +transaction to settle--and so"---- + +"It's no use beating about the bush any longer," said Mr Sawley in an +excited tone, at the same time dashing down his crape-covered castor +on the floor. "Did you ever see a ruined man with a large family? Look +at me, Mr Dunshunner--I'm one, and you've done it!" + +"Mr Sawley! are you in your senses?" + +"That depends on circumstances. Haven't you been buying stock lately?" + +"I am glad to say I have--two thousand Glenmutchkins, I think, and +this is the day of delivery." + +"Well, then--can't you see how the matter stands? It was I who sold +them!" + +"Well!" + +"Mother of Moses, sir! don't you see I'm ruined?" + +"By no means--but you must not swear. I pay over the money for your +scrip, and you pocket a premium. It seems to me a very simple +transaction." + +"But I tell you I haven't got the scrip!" cried Sawley, gnashing his +teeth, whilst the cold beads of perspiration gathered largely on his +brow. + +"That is very unfortunate! Have you lost it?" + +"No!--the devil tempted me, and I oversold!" + +There was a very long pause, during which I assumed an aspect of +serious and dignified rebuke. + +"Is it possible?" said I in a low tone, after the manner of Kean's +offended fathers. "What! you, Mr Sawley--the stoker's friend--the +enemy of gambling--the father of Selina--condescend to so equivocal a +transaction? You amaze me! But I never was the man to press heavily on +a friend"--here Sawley brightened up--"your secret is safe with me, +and it shall be your own fault if it reaches the ears of the Session. +Pay me over the difference at the present market price, and I release +you of your obligation." + +"Then I'm in the Gazette, that's all," said Sawley doggedly, "and a +wife and nine beautiful babes upon the parish! I had hoped other +things from you, Mr Dunshunner--I thought you and Selina"-- + +"Nonsense, man! Nobody goes into the Gazette just now--it will be time +enough when the general crash comes. Out with your cheque-book, and +write me an order for four-and-twenty thousand. Confound fractions! in +these days one can afford to be liberal." + +"I haven't got it," said Sawley. "You have no idea how bad our trade +has been of late, for nobody seems to think of dying. I have not sold +a gross of coffins this fortnight. But I'll tell you what--I'll give +you five thousand down in cash, and ten thousand in shares--further I +can't go." + +"Now, Mr Sawley," said I, "I may be blamed by worldly-minded persons +for what I am going to do; but I am a man of principle, and feel +deeply for the situation of your amiable wife and family. I bear no +malice, though it is quite clear that you intended to make me the +sufferer. Pay me fifteen thousand over the counter, and we cry quits +for ever." + +"Won't you take Camlachie Cemetery shares? They are sure to go up." + +"No!" + +"Twelve Hundred Cowcaddens' Water, with an issue of new stock next +week?" + +"Not if they disseminated the Ganges!" + +"A thousand Ramshorn Gas--four per cent guaranteed until the act?" + +"Not if they promised twenty, and melted down the sun in their +retort!" + +"Blawweary Iron? Best spec. going." + +"No, I tell you once for all! If you don't like my offer--and it is an +uncommonly liberal one--say so, and I'll expose you this afternoon +upon 'Change." + +"Well, then--there's a cheque. But may the"---- + +"Stop, sir! Any such profane expressions, and I shall insist upon the +original bargain. So, then--now we're quits. I wish you a very +good-morning, Mr Sawley, and better luck next time. Pray remember me +to your amiable family." + +The door had hardly closed upon the discomfited coffin-maker, and I +was still in the preliminary steps of an extempore _pas seul_, +intended as the outward demonstration of exceeding inward joy, when +Bob M'Corkindale entered. I told him the result of the morning's +conference. + +"You have let him off too easily," said the Political Economist. "Had +I been his creditor, I certainly should have sacked the shares into +the bargain. There is nothing like rigid dealing between man and man." + +"I am contented with moderate profits," said I; "besides, the image of +Selina overcame me. How goes it with Jobson and Grabbie?" + +"Jobson has paid, and Grabbie compounded. Heckles--may he die an evil +death!--has repudiated, become a lame duck, and waddled; but no doubt +his estate will pay a dividend." + +"So, then, we are clear of the whole Glenmutchkin business, and at a +handsome profit." + +"A fair interest for the outlay of capital--nothing more. But I'm not +quite done with the concern yet." + +"How so? not another bearing operation?" + +"No; that cock would hardly fight. But you forget that I am secretary +to the company, and have a small account against them for services +already rendered. I must do what I can to carry the bill through +Parliament; and, as you have now sold your whole shares, I advise you +to resign from the direction, go down straight to Glenmutchkin, and +qualify yourself for a witness. We shall give you five guineas a-day, +and pay all your expenses." + +"Not a bad notion. But what has become of M'Closkie, and the other +fellow with the jaw-breaking name?" + +"Vich-Induibh? I have looked after their interests, as in duty bound, +sold their shares at a large premium, and despatched them to their +native hills on annuities." + +"And Sir Polloxfen?" + +"Died yesterday of spontaneous combustion." + +As the company seemed breaking up, I thought I could not do better +than take M'Corkindale's hint, and accordingly betook myself to +Glenmutchkin, along with the Captain of M'Alcohol, and we quartered +ourselves upon the Factor for Glentumblers. We found Watty Solder very +shakey, and his assistant also lapsing into habits of painful +inebriety. We saw little of them except of an evening, for we shot and +fished the whole day, and made ourselves remarkably comfortable. By +singular good-luck, the plans and sections were lodged in time, and +the Board of Trade very handsomely reported in our favour, with a +recommendation of what they were pleased to call "the Glenmutchkin +system," and a hope that it might generally be carried out. What this +system was, I never clearly understood; but, of course, none of us had +any objections. This circumstance gave an additional impetus to the +shares, and they once more went up. I was, however, too cautious to +plunge a second time into Charybdis, but M'Corkindale did, and again +emerged with plunder. + +When the time came for the parliamentary contest, we all emigrated to +London. I still recollect, with lively satisfaction, the many pleasant +days we spent in the metropolis at the company's expense. There were +just a neat fifty of us, and we occupied the whole of an hotel. The +discussion before the committee was long and formidable. We were +opposed by four other companies who patronised lines, of which the +nearest was at least a hundred miles distant from Glenmutchkin; but as +they founded their opposition upon dissent from "the Glenmutchkin +system" generally, the committee allowed them to be heard. We fought +for three weeks a most desperate battle, and might in the end have +been victorious, had not our last antagonist, at the very close of his +case, pointed out no less than seventy-three fatal errors in the +parliamentary plan deposited by the unfortunate Solder. Why this was +not done earlier, I never exactly understood; it may be, that our +opponents, with gentlemanly consideration, were unwilling to curtail +our sojourn in London--and their own. The drama was now finally +closed, and after all preliminary expenses were paid, sixpence per +share was returned to the holders upon surrender of their scrip. + +Such is an accurate history of the Origin, Rise, Progress, and Fall of +the Direct Glenmutchkin Railway. It contains a deep moral, if anybody +has sense enough to see it; if not, I have a new project in my eye for +next session, of which timely notice shall be given. + + + + + VANDERDECKEN'S MESSAGE HOME; + OR, THE TENACITY OF NATURAL AFFECTION. + +[_MAGA._ MAY 1821.] + + +Our ship, after touching at the Cape, went out again, and soon losing +sight of the Table Mountain, began to be assailed by the impetuous +attacks of the sea, which is well known to be more formidable there +than in most parts of the known ocean. The day had grown dull and +hazy, and the breeze, which had formerly blown fresh, now sometimes +subsided almost entirely, and then recovering its strength, for a +short time, and changing its direction, blew with temporary violence, +and died away again, as if exercising a melancholy caprice. A heavy +swell began to come from the south-east. Our sails flapped against the +masts, and the ship rolled from side to side, as heavily as if she had +been water-logged. There was so little wind that she would not steer. + +At two P.M. we had a squall, accompanied by thunder and rain. The +seamen, growing restless, looked anxiously ahead. They said we would +have a dirty night of it, and that it would not be worth while to +turn into their hammocks. As the second mate was describing a gale he +had encountered off Cape Race, Newfoundland, we were suddenly taken +all aback, and the blast came upon us furiously. We continued to scud +under a double-reefed mainsail and fore-topsail till dusk; but, as the +sea ran high, the captain thought it safest to bring her to. The watch +on deck consisted of four men, one of whom was appointed to keep a +look-out ahead, for the weather was so hazy that we could not see two +cables' length from the bows. This man, whose name was Tom Willis, +went frequently to the bows, as if to observe something; and when the +others called to him, inquiring what he was looking at, he would give +no definite answer. They therefore went also to the bows, and appeared +startled, and at first said nothing. But presently one of them cried, +"William, go call the watch." + +The seamen, having been asleep in their hammocks, murmured at this +unseasonable summons, and called to know how it looked upon deck. To +which Tom Willis replied, "Come up and see. What we are minding is not +on deck, but ahead." + +On hearing this, they ran up without putting on their jackets, and +when they came to the bows there was a whispering. + +One of them asked, "Where is she? I do not see her." To which another +replied, "The last flash of lightning showed there was not a reef in +one of her sails; but we, who know her history, know that all her +canvass will never carry her into port." + +By this time, the talking of the seamen had brought some of the +passengers on deck. They could see nothing, however, for the ship was +surrounded by thick darkness, and by the noise of the dashing waters, +and the seamen evaded the questions that were put to them. + +At this juncture the chaplain came on deck. He was a man of grave and +modest demeanour, and was much liked among the seamen, who called him +Gentle George. He overheard one of the men asking another, "If he had +ever seen the Flying Dutchman before, and if he knew the story about +her?" To which the other replied, "I have heard of her beating about +in these seas. What is the reason she never reaches port?" + +The first speaker replied, "They give different reasons for it, but my +story is this: She was an Amsterdam vessel, and sailed from that port +seventy years ago. Her master's name was Vanderdecken. He was a stanch +seaman, and would have his own way, in spite of the devil. For all +that, never a sailor under him had reason to complain; though how it +is on board with them now, nobody knows;--the story is this, that in +doubling the Cape, they were a long day trying to weather the Table +Bay, which we saw this morning. However, the wind headed them, and +went against them more and more, and Vanderdecken walked the deck, +swearing at the wind. Just after sunset, a vessel spoke him, asking if +he did not mean to go into the bay that night. Vanderdecken replied, +'May I be eternally d--d if I do, though I should beat about here till +the day of judgment!' And to be sure, Vanderdecken never did go into +that bay; for it is believed that he continues to beat about in these +seas still, and will do so long enough. This vessel is never seen but +with foul weather along with her." + +To which another replied, "We must keep clear of her. They say that +her captain mans his jolly boat, when a vessel comes in sight, and +tries hard to get alongside, to put letters on board, but no good +comes to them who have communication with him." + +Tom Willis said, "There is such a sea between us at present, as should +keep us safe from such visits." + +To which the other answered: "We cannot trust to that, if Vanderdecken +sends out his men." + +Some of this conversation having been overheard by the passengers, +there was a commotion among them. In the mean time, the noise of the +waves against the vessel could scarcely be distinguished from the +sounds of the distant thunder. The wind had extinguished the light in +the binnacle, where the compass was, and no one could tell which way +the ship's head lay. The passengers were afraid to ask questions, +lest they should augment the secret sensation of fear which chilled +every heart, or learn any more than they already knew. For while they +attributed their agitation of mind to the state of the weather, it was +sufficiently perceptible that their alarms also arose from a cause +which they did not acknowledge. + +The lamp at the binnacle being relighted, they perceived that the ship +lay closer to the wind than she had hitherto done, and the spirits of +the passengers were somewhat revived. + +Nevertheless, neither the tempestuous state of the atmosphere nor the +thunder had ceased, and soon a vivid flash of lightning showed the +waves tumbling around us, and, in the distance, the Flying Dutchman +scudding furiously before the wind, under a press of canvass. The +sight was but momentary, but it was sufficient to remove all doubt +from the minds of the passengers. One of the men cried aloud, "There +she goes, topgallants and all." + +The chaplain had brought up his prayer-book, in order that he might +draw from thence something to fortify and tranquillise the minds of +the rest. Therefore, taking his seat near the binnacle, so that the +light shone upon the white leaves of the book, he, in a solemn tone, +read out the service for those distressed at sea. The sailors stood +round with folded arms, and looked as if they thought it would be of +little use. But this served to occupy the attention of those on deck +for a while. + +In the mean time the flashes of lightning, becoming less vivid, showed +nothing else, far or near, but the billows weltering round the vessel. +The sailors seemed to think that they had not yet seen the worst, but +confined their remarks and prognostications to their own circle. + +At this time, the captain, who had hitherto remained in his berth, +came on deck, and, with a gay and unconcerned air, inquired what was +the cause of the general dread. He said he thought they had already +seen the worst of the weather, and wondered that his men had raised +such a hubbub about a capful of wind. Mention being made of the Flying +Dutchman, the captain laughed. He said, "he would like very much to +see any vessel carrying topgallant-sails in such a night, for it would +be a sight worth looking at." The chaplain, taking him by one of the +buttons of his coat, drew him aside, and appeared to enter into +serious conversation with him. + +While they were talking together, the captain was heard to say, "Let +us look to our own ship, and not mind such things;" and accordingly, +he sent a man aloft, to see if all was right about the fore-topsail +yard, which was chafing the mast with a loud noise. + +It was Tom Willis who went up; and when he came down, he said that all +was tight, and that he hoped it would soon get clearer; and that they +would see no more of what they were most afraid of. + +The captain and first mate were heard laughing loudly together, while +the chaplain observed, that it would be better to repress such +unseasonable gaiety. The second mate, a native of Scotland, whose name +was Duncan Saunderson, having attended one of the University classes +at Aberdeen, thought himself too wise to believe all that the sailors +said, and took part with the captain. He jestingly told Tom Willis to +borrow his grandam's spectacles the next time he was sent to keep a +look-out ahead. Tom walked sulkily away, muttering, that he would +nevertheless trust to his own eyes till morning, and accordingly took +his station at the bow, and appeared to watch as attentively as +before. + +The sound of talking soon ceased, for many returned to their berths, +and we heard nothing but the clanking of the ropes upon the masts, and +the bursting of the billows ahead, as the vessel successively took the +seas. + +But after a considerable interval of darkness, gleams of lightning +began to reappear. Tom Willis suddenly called out, "Vanderdecken, +again! Vanderdecken, again! I see them letting down a boat." + +All who were on deck ran to the bows. The next flash of lightning +shone far and wide over the raging sea, and showed us not only the +Flying Dutchman at a distance, but also a boat coming from her with +four men. The boat was within two cables' length of our ship's side. + +The man who first saw her ran to the captain, and asked whether they +should hail her or not. The captain, walking about in great agitation, +made no reply. The first mate cried, "Who's going to heave a rope to +that boat?" The men looked at each other without offering to do +anything. The boat had come very near the chains, when Tom Willis +called out, "What do you want? or what devil has blown you here in +such weather?" A piercing voice from the boat replied in English, "We +want to speak with your captain." The captain took no notice of this, +and Vanderdecken's boat having come close alongside, one of the men +came upon deck, and appeared like a fatigued and weatherbeaten seaman, +holding some letters in his hand. + +Our sailors all drew back. The chaplain, however, looking steadfastly +upon him, went forward a few steps, and asked, "What is the purpose of +this visit?" + +The stranger replied, "We have long been kept here by foul weather, +and Vanderdecken wishes to send these letters to his friends in +Europe." + +Our captain now came forward, and said as firmly as he could, "I wish +Vanderdecken would put his letters on board of any other vessel +rather than mine." + +The stranger replied, "We have tried many a ship, but most of them +refuse our letters." + +Upon which, Tom Willis muttered, "It will be best for us if we do the +same, for they say there is sometimes a sinking weight in your paper." + +The stranger took no notice of this, but asked where we were from. On +being told that we were from Portsmouth, he said, as if with strong +feeling, "Would that you had rather been from Amsterdam. Oh that we +saw it again!--We must see our friends again." When he uttered these +words, the men who were in the boat below wrung their hands, and cried +in a piercing tone, in Dutch, "Oh that we saw it again! We have been +long here beating about: but we must see our friends again." + +The chaplain asked the stranger, "How long have you been at sea?" + +He replied, "We have lost our count; for our almanac was blown +overboard. Our ship, you see, is there still; so why should you ask +how long we have been at sea; for Vanderdecken only wishes to write +home and comfort his friends." + +To which the chaplain replied, "Your letters, I fear, would be of no +use in Amsterdam, even if they were delivered, for the persons to whom +they are addressed are probably no longer to be found there, except +under very ancient green turf in the churchyard." + +The unwelcome stranger then wrung his hands and appeared to weep, and +replied: "It is impossible. We cannot believe you. We have been long +driving about here, but country nor relations cannot be so easily +forgotten. There is not a raindrop in the air but feels itself kindred +to all the rest, and they fall back into the sea to meet with each +other again. How then can kindred blood be made to forget where it +came from? Even our bodies are part of the ground of Holland; and +Vanderdecken says, if he once were come to Amsterdam, he would rather +be changed into a stone post, well fixed into the ground, than leave +it again, if that were to die elsewhere. But in the mean time, we only +ask you to take these letters." + +The chaplain, looking at him with astonishment, said, "This is the +insanity of natural affection, which rebels against all measures of +time and distance." + +The stranger continued, "Here is a letter from our second mate, to his +dear and only remaining friend, his uncle, the merchant who lives in +the second house on Stuncken Yacht Quay." + +He held forth the letter, but no one would approach to take it. + +Tom Willis raised his voice and said, "One of our men, here, says that +he was in Amsterdam last summer, and he knows for certain that the +street called Stuncken Yacht Quay was pulled down sixty years ago, +and now there is only a large church at that place." + +The man from the Flying Dutchman said: "It is impossible, we cannot +believe you. Here is another letter from myself, in which I have sent +a bank-note to my dear sister, to buy some gallant lace, to make her a +high head-dress." + +Tom Willis hearing this said: "It is most likely that her head now +lies under a tombstone, which will outlast all the changes of the +fashion. But on what house is your bank-note?" + +The stranger replied, "On the house of Vanderbrucker and Company." + +The man, of whom Tom Willis had spoken, said: "I guess there will now +be some discount upon it, for that banking-house was gone to +destruction forty years ago; and Vanderbrucker was afterwards +amissing.--But to remember these things is like raking up the bottom +of an old canal." + +The stranger called out passionately: "It is impossible--We cannot +believe it! It is cruel to say such things to people in our condition. +There is a letter from our captain himself, to his much-beloved and +faithful wife, whom he left at a pleasant summer dwelling, on +the border of the Haarlemer Mer. She promised to have the house +beautifully painted and gilded before he came back, and to get a new +set of looking-glasses for the principal chamber, that she might see +as many images of Vanderdecken as if she had six husbands at once." + +The man replied, "There has been time enough for her to have had six +husbands since then; but were she alive still, there is no fear that +Vanderdecken would ever get home to disturb her." + +On hearing this the stranger again shed tears, and said, if they would +not take the letters, he would leave them; and looking around he +offered the parcel to the captain, chaplain, and to the rest of the +crew successively, but each drew back as it was offered, and put his +hands behind his back. He then laid the letters upon the deck, and +placed upon them a piece of iron, which was lying near, to prevent +them from being blown away. Having done this, he swung himself over +the gangway, and went into the boat. + +We heard the others speak to him, but the rise of a sudden squall +prevented us from distinguishing his reply. The boat was seen to quit +the ship's side, and in a few moments there were no more traces of her +than if she had never been there. The sailors rubbed their eyes, as if +doubting what they had witnessed, but the parcel still lay upon deck, +and proved the reality of all that had passed. + +Duncan Saunderson, the Scotch mate, asked the captain if he should +take them up, and put them in the letter-bag? Receiving no reply, he +would have lifted them if it had not been for Tom Willis, who pulled +him back, saying that nobody should touch them. + +In the mean time the captain went down to the cabin, and the chaplain, +having followed him, found him at his bottle-case, pouring out a +large dram of brandy. The captain, although somewhat disconcerted, +immediately offered the glass to him, saying, "Here, Charters, is what +is good in a cold night." The chaplain declined drinking anything, and +the captain having swallowed the bumper, they both returned to the +deck, where they found the seamen giving their opinions concerning +what should be done with the letters. Tom Willis proposed to pick them +up on a harpoon, and throw it overboard. + +Another speaker said, "I have always heard it asserted that it is +neither safe to accept them voluntarily, nor when they are left to +throw them out of the ship." + +"Let no one touch them," said the carpenter. "The way to do with the +letters from the Flying Dutchman is, to case them upon deck, so that, +if he sends back for them, they are still there to give him." + +The carpenter went to fetch his tools. During his absence, the ship +gave so violent a pitch that the piece of iron slid off the letters, +and they were whirled overboard by the wind, like birds of evil omen +whirring through the air. There was a cry of joy among the sailors, +and they ascribed the favourable change which soon took place in the +weather, to our having got quit of Vanderdecken. We soon got under +weigh again. The night watch being set, the rest of the crew retired +to their berths. + + + + +THE FLOATING BEACON. + +[_MAGA._ OCTOBER 1821.] + + +One dark and stormy night we were on a voyage from Bergen to +Christiansand in a small sloop. Our captain suspected that he had +approached too near the Norwegian coast, though he could not discern +any land, and the wind blew with such violence that we were in +momentary dread of being driven upon a lee-shore. We had endeavoured, +for more than an hour, to keep our vessel away; but our efforts proved +unavailing, and we soon found that we could scarcely hold our own. A +clouded sky, a hazy atmosphere, and irregular showers of sleety rain, +combined to deepen the obscurity of night, and nothing whatever was +visible, except the sparkling of the distant waves, when their tops +happened to break into a wreath of foam. The sea ran very high, and +sometimes broke over the deck so furiously that the men were obliged +to hold by the rigging, lest they should be carried away. Our captain +was a person of timid and irresolute character, and the dangers that +environed us made him gradually lose confidence in himself. He often +gave orders, and countermanded them in the same moment, all the while +taking small quantities of ardent spirits at intervals. Fear and +intoxication soon stupified him completely, and the crew ceased to +consult him, or to pay any respect to his authority, in so far as +regarded the management of the vessel. + +About midnight our mainsail was split, and shortly after we found that +the sloop had sprung a leak. We had before shipped a good deal of +water through the hatches, and the quantity that now entered from +below was so great that we thought she would go down every moment. Our +only chance of escape lay in our boat, which was immediately lowered. +After we had all got on board of her, except the captain, who stood +leaning against the mast, we called to him, requesting that he would +follow us without delay. "How dare you quit the sloop without my +permission?" cried he, staggering forwards. "This is not fit weather +to go a-fishing. Come back--back with you all!"--"No, no," returned +one of the crew; "we don't want to be sent to the bottom for your +obstinacy. Bear a hand there, or we'll leave you behind."--"Captain, +you are drunk," said another; "you cannot take care of yourself. You +must obey _us_ now."--"Silence! mutinous villain!" answered the +captain. "What are you all afraid of? This is a fine breeze--Up +mainsail, and steer her right in the wind's eye." + +The sea knocked the boat so violently and constantly against the side +of the sloop, that we feared the former would be injured or upset if +we did not immediately row away; but, anxious as we were to preserve +our lives, we could not reconcile ourselves to the idea of abandoning +the captain, who grew more obstinate the more we attempted to persuade +him to accompany us. At length one of the crew leaped on board the +sloop, and having seized hold of him, tried to drag him along by +force; but he struggled resolutely, and soon freed himself from the +grasp of the seaman, who immediately resumed his place among us, and +urged that we should not any longer risk our lives for the sake of a +drunkard and a madman. Most of the party declared they were of the +same opinion, and began to push off the boat; but I entreated them to +make one effort more to induce their infatuated commander to accompany +us. At that moment he came up from the cabin, to which he had +descended a little time before, and we immediately perceived that he +was more under the influence of ardent spirits than ever. He abused us +all in the grossest terms, and threatened his crew with severe +punishment, if they did not come on board, and return to their duty. +His manner was so violent that no one seemed willing to attempt to +constrain him to come on board the boat; and after vainly representing +the absurdity of his conduct; and the danger of his situation, we bid +him farewell, and rowed away. + +The sea ran so high, and had such a terrific appearance, that I almost +wished myself in the sloop again. The crew plied the oars in silence, +and we heard nothing but the hissing of the enormous billows as they +gently rose up, and slowly subsided again, without breaking. At +intervals our boat was elevated far above the surface of the ocean, +and remained for a few moments trembling upon the pinnacle of a surge, +from which it would quietly descend into a gulf so deep and awful that +we often thought the dense black mass of waters which formed its sides +were on the point of over-arching us, and bursting upon our heads. We +glided with regular undulations from one billow to another; but every +time we sank into the trough of the sea my heart died within me, for I +felt as if we were going lower down than we had ever done before, and +clung instinctively to the board on which I sat. + +Notwithstanding my terrors, I frequently looked towards the sloop. The +fragments of her mainsail, which remained attached to the yard, and +fluttered in the wind, enabled us to discern exactly where she lay, +and showed, by their motion, that she pitched about in a terrible +manner. We occasionally heard the voice of her unfortunate commander, +calling to us in tones of frantic derision, and by turns vociferating +curses and blasphemous oaths, and singing sea-songs with a wild and +frightful energy. I sometimes almost wished that the crew would +make another effort to save him, but next moment the principle +of self-preservation repressed all feelings of humanity, and I +endeavoured, by closing my ears, to banish the idea of his sufferings +from my mind. + +After a little time the shivering canvass disappeared, and we heard a +tumultuous roaring and bursting of billows, and saw an unusual +sparkling of the sea about a quarter of a mile from us. One of the +sailors cried out that the sloop was now on her beam ends, and that +the noise to which we listened was that of the waves breaking over +her. We could sometimes perceive a large black mass heaving itself up +irregularly among the flashing surges, and then disappearing for a few +moments, and knew but too well that it was the hull of the vessel. At +intervals a shrill and agonised voice uttered some exclamations, but +we could not distinguish what they were, and then a long-drawn shriek +came across the ocean, which suddenly grew more furiously agitated +near the spot where the sloop lay, and in a few moments she sank down, +and a black wave formed itself out of the waters that had engulfed +her, and swelled gloomily into a magnitude greater than that of the +surrounding billows. + +The seamen dropped their oars, as if by one impulse, and looked +expressively at each other, without speaking a word. Awful XXXX +forebodings of a fate similar to that of the captain appeared to chill +every heart, and to repress the energy that had hitherto excited us to +make unremitting exertions for our common safety. While we were in +this state of hopeless inaction, the man at the helm called out that +he saw a light ahead. We all strained our eyes to discern it, but at +the moment the boat was sinking down between two immense waves, one of +which closed the prospect, and we remained in breathless anxiety till +a rising surge elevated us above the level of the surrounding ocean. A +light like a dazzling star then suddenly flashed upon our view, and +joyful exclamations burst from every mouth. "That," cried one of the +crew, "must be the floating beacon which our captain was looking out +for this afternoon. If we can but gain it, we'll be safe enough yet." +This intelligence cheered us all, and the men began to ply the oars +with redoubled vigour, while I employed myself in baling out the water +that sometimes rushed over the gunnel of the boat when a sea happened +to strike her. + +An hour's hard rowing brought us so near the lighthouse that we almost +ceased to apprehend any further danger; but it was suddenly obscured +from our view, and at the same time a confused roaring and dashing +commenced at a little distance, and rapidly increased in loudness. We +soon perceived a tremendous billow rolling towards us. Its top, part +of which had already broke, overhung the base, as if unwilling to +burst until we were within the reach of its violence. The man who +steered the boat brought her head to the sea, but all to no purpose, +for the water rushed furiously over us, and we were completely +immersed. I felt the boat swept from under me, and was left struggling +and groping about in hopeless desperation for something to catch hold +of. When nearly exhausted, I received a severe blow on the side from a +small cask of water which the sea had forced against me. I immediately +twined my arms round it, and, after recovering myself a little, began +to look for the boat, and to call to my companions; but I could not +discover any vestige of them, or of their vessel. However, I still had +a faint hope that they were in existence, and that the intervention of +the billows concealed them from my view. I continued to shout as loud +as possible, for the sound of my own voice in some measure relieved +me from the feeling of awful and heart-chilling loneliness which my +situation inspired; but not even an echo responded to my cries, and, +convinced that my comrades had all perished, I ceased looking for +them, and pushed towards the beacon in the best manner I could. A long +series of fatiguing exertions brought me close to the side of the +vessel which contained it, and I called out loudly, in hopes that +those on board might hear me and come to my assistance; but no one +appearing, I waited patiently till a wave raised me on a level with +the chains, and then caught hold of them, and succeeded in getting on +board. + +As I did not see any person on deck, I went forwards to the skylight, +and looked down. Two men were seated below at a table; and a lamp, +which was suspended above them, being swung backwards and forwards +by the rolling of the vessel, threw its light upon their faces +alternately. One seemed agitated with passion, and the other surveyed +him with a scornful look. They both talked very loudly, and used +threatening gestures, but the sea made so much noise that I could not +distinguish what was said. After a little time they started up, and +seemed to be on the point of closing and wrestling together, when a +woman rushed through a small door and prevented them. I beat upon deck +with my feet at the same time, and the attention of the whole party +was soon transferred to the noise. One of the men immediately came up +the cabin stairs, but stopped short on seeing me, as if irresolute +whether to advance or hasten below again. I approached him, and told +my story in a few words, but instead of making any reply, he went down +to the cabin, and began to relate to the others what he had seen. I +soon followed him, and easily found my way into the apartment where +they all were. They appeared to feel mingled sensations of fear and +astonishment at my presence, and it was some time before any of them +entered into conversation with me, or afforded those comforts which I +stood so much in need of. + +After I had refreshed myself with food, and been provided with a +change of clothing, I went upon deck, and surveyed the singular asylum +in which Providence had enabled me to take refuge from the fury of the +storm. It did not exceed thirty feet long, and was very strongly +built, and completely decked over, except at the entrance to the +cabin. It had a thick mast at midships, with a large lantern, +containing several burners and reflectors, on the top of it; and this +could be lowered and hoisted up again as often as required, by means +of ropes and pulleys. The vessel was firmly moored upon an extensive +sand-bank, the beacon being intended to warn seamen to avoid a part of +the ocean where many lives and vessels had been lost in consequence +of the latter running aground. The accommodations below decks were +narrow, and of an inferior description; however, I gladly retired to +the berth that was allotted me by my entertainers, and fatigue and +the rocking of billows combined to lull me into a quiet and dreamless +sleep. + +Next morning, one of the men, whose name was Angerstoff, came to my +bedside, and called me to breakfast in a surly and imperious manner. + +Others looked coldly and distrustfully when I joined them, and I saw +that they regarded me as an intruder and an unwelcome guest. The meal +passed without almost any conversation, and I went upon deck whenever +it was over. The tempest of the preceding night had in a great measure +abated, but the sea still ran very high, and a black mist hovered over +it, through which the Norwegian coast, lying at eleven miles distance, +could be dimly seen. I looked in vain for some remains of the sloop or +boat. Not a bird enlivened the heaving expanse of waters, and I turned +shuddering from the dreary scene, and asked Morvalden, the youngest of +the men, when he thought I had any chance of getting ashore. "Not very +soon, I'm afraid," returned he. "We are visited once a-month by people +from yonder land, who are appointed to bring us supply of provisions +and other necessaries. They were here only six days ago, so you may +count how long it will be before they return. Fishing-boats sometimes +pass us during fine weather, but we won't have much of that this moon +at least." + +No intelligence could have been more depressing to me than this. The +idea of spending perhaps three weeks in such a place was almost +insupportable, and the more so, as I could not hasten my deliverance +by any exertions of my own, but would be obliged to remain, in a state +of inactive suspense, till good fortune, or the regular course of +events, afforded me the means of getting ashore. Neither Angerstoff +nor Morvalden seemed to sympathise with my distress, or even to care +that I should have it in my power to leave the vessel, except in so +far as my departure would free them from the expense of supporting me. +They returned indistinct and repulsive answers to all the questions I +asked, and appeared anxious to avoid having the least communication +with me. During the greater part of the forenoon, they employed +themselves in trimming the lamps and cleaning the reflectors, but +never conversed any. I easily perceived that a mutual animosity +existed between them, but was unable to discover the cause of it. +Morvalden seemed to fear Angerstoff, and at the same time to feel a +deep resentment towards him, which he did not dare to express. +Angerstoff apparently was aware of this, for he behaved to his +companion with the undisguised fierceness of determined hate, and +openly thwarted him in everything. + +Marietta, the female on board, was the wife of Morvalden. She remained +chiefly below decks, and attended to the domestic concerns of the +vessel. She was rather good-looking, but so reserved and forbidding in +her manners that she formed no desirable acquisition to our party, +already so heartless and unsociable in its character. + +When night approached, after the lapse of a wearisome and monotonous +day, I went on deck to see the beacon lighted, and continued walking +backwards and forwards till a late hour. I watched the lantern, as it +swung from side to side, and flashed upon different portions of the +sea alternately, and sometimes fancied I saw men struggling among the +billows that tumbled around, and at other times imagined I could +discern the white sail of an approaching vessel. Human voices seemed +to mingle with the noise of the bursting waves, and I often listened +intently, almost in the expectation of hearing articulate sounds. My +mind grew sombre as the scene itself, and strange and fearful ideas +obtruded themselves in rapid succession. It was dreadful to be chained +in the middle of the deep--to be the continual sport of the quietless +billows--to be shunned as a fatal thing by those who traversed the +solitary ocean. Though within sight of the shore, our situation was +more dreary than if we had been sailing a thousand miles from it. We +felt not the pleasure of moving forwards, nor the hope of reaching +port, nor the delights arising from favourable breezes and genial +weather. When a billow drove us to one side, we were tossed back again +by another; our imprisonment had no variety or definite termination; +and the calm and the tempest were alike uninteresting to us. I felt as +if my fate had already become linked with that of those who were on +board the vessel. My hopes of being again permitted to mingle with +mankind died away, and I anticipated long years of gloom and despair +in the company of these repulsive persons into whose hands fate had +unexpectedly consigned me. + +Angerstoff and Morvalden tended the beacon alternately during the +night. The latter had the watch while I remained upon deck. His +appearance and manner indicated much perturbation of mind, and he +paced hurriedly from side to side, sometimes muttering to himself, +and sometimes stopping suddenly to look through the skylight, as +if anxious to discover what was going on below. He would then gaze +intently upon the heavens, and next moment take out his watch, and +contemplate the motions of its hands. I did not offer to disturb these +reveries, and thought myself altogether unobserved by him, till he +suddenly advanced to the spot where I stood, and said, in a loud +whisper, "There's a villain below--a desperate villain--this is +true--he is capable of anything--and the woman is as bad as him." I +asked what proof he had of all this. "Oh, I know it," returned he; +"that wretch Angerstoff, whom I once thought my friend, has gained +my wife's affections. She has been faithless to me--yes, she has. +They both wish I were out of the way. Perhaps they are now planning +my destruction. What can I do? It is very terrible to be shut +up in such narrow limits with those who hate me, and to have +no means of escaping, or defending myself from their infernal +machinations."--"Why do you not leave the beacon," inquired I, "and +abandon your companion and guilty wife?"--"Ah, that is impossible," +answered Morvalden; "if I went on shore I would forfeit my liberty. I +live here that I may escape the vengeance of the law, which I once +outraged for the sake of her who has now withdrawn her love from me. +What ingratitude! Mine is indeed a terrible fate, but I must bear it. +And shall I never again wander through the green fields, and climb the +rocks that encircle my native place? Are the weary dashings of the +sea, and the moanings of the wind, to fill my ears continually, all +the while telling me that I am an exile?--a hopeless despairing exile. +But it won't last long," cried he, catching hold of my arm; "they will +murder me!--I am sure of it--I never go to sleep without dreaming that +Angerstoff has pushed me overboard." + +"Your lonely situation and inactive life dispose you to give way to +these chimeras," said I; "you must endeavour to resist them. Perhaps +things aren't so bad as you suppose."--"This is not a lonely +situation," replied Morvalden, in a solemn tone. "Perhaps you will +have proof of what I say before you leave us. Many vessels used to be +lost here, and a few are wrecked still; and the skeletons and corpses +of those who have perished lie all over the sand-bank. Sometimes, at +midnight, I have seen crowds of human figures moving backwards and +forwards upon the surface of the ocean, almost as far as the eye could +reach. I neither knew who they were, nor what they did there. When +watching the lantern alone, I often hear a number of voices talking +together, as it were, under the waves; and I twice caught the very +words they uttered, but I cannot repeat them--they dwell incessantly +in my memory, but my tongue refuses to pronounce them, or to explain +to others what they meant." + +"Do not let your senses be imposed upon by a distempered imagination," +said I; "there is no reality in the things you have told XXXX +me."--"Perhaps my mind occasionally wanders a little, for it has a +heavy burden upon it," returned Morvalden. "I have been guilty of a +dreadful crime. Many that now lie in the deep below us might start up +and accuse me of what I am just going to reveal to you. One stormy +night, shortly after I began to take charge of this beacon, while +watching on deck, I fell into a profound sleep. I know not how long it +continued, but I was awakened by horrible shouts and cries. I started +up, and instantly perceived that all the lamps in the lantern were +extinguished. It was very dark, and the sea raged furiously; but +notwithstanding all this, I observed a ship aground on the bank, a +little way from me, her sails fluttering in the wind, and the waves +breaking over her with violence. Half frantic with horror, I ran down +to the cabin for a taper, and lighted the lamps as fast as possible. +The lantern, when hoisted to the top of the mast, threw a vivid glare +on the surrounding ocean, and showed me the vessel disappearing among +the billows. Hundreds of people lay gasping in the water near her. +Men, women, and children writhed together in agonising struggles, +and uttered soul-harrowing cries; and their countenances, as they +gradually stiffened under the hand of death, were all turned towards +me with glassy stare, while the lurid expression of their glistening +eyes upbraided me with having been the cause of their untimely end. +Never shall I forget these looks. They haunt me wherever I am--asleep +and awake--night and day. I have kept this tale of horror secret till +now, and do not know if I shall ever have courage to relate it again. +The masts of the vessel projected above the surface of the sea for +several months after she was lost, as if to keep me in recollection of +the night in which so many human creatures perished, in consequence of +my neglect and carelessness. Would to God I had no memory! I sometimes +think I am getting mad. The past and present are equally dreadful to +me; and I dare not anticipate the future." + +I felt a sort of superstitious dread steal over me, while Morvalden +related his story, and we continued walking the deck in silence till +the period of his watch expired. I then went below, and took refuge +in my berth, though I was but little inclined for sleep. The gloomy +ideas and dark forebodings expressed by Morvalden weighed heavily upon +my mind, without my knowing why; and my situation, which had at first +seemed only dreary and depressing, began to have something +indefinitely terrible in its aspect. + +Next day, when Morvalden proceeded as usual to put the beacon in +order, he called upon Angerstoff to come and assist him, which the +latter peremptorily refused. Morvalden then went down to the cabin, +where his companion was, and requested to know why his orders were not +obeyed. "Because I hate trouble," replied Angerstoff. "I am master +here," said Morvalden, "and have been intrusted with the direction of +everything. Do not attempt to trifle with me."--"Trifle with you!" +exclaimed Angerstoff, looking contemptuously. "No, no, I am no +trifler; and I advise you to walk up-stairs again, lest I prove this +to your cost." "Why, husband," cried Marietta, "I believe there are no +bounds to your laziness. You make this young man toil from morning to +night, and take advantage of his good nature in the most shameful +manner."--"Peace, infamous woman!" said Morvalden; "I know very well +why you stand up in his defence; but I'll put a stop to the intimacy +that exists between you. Go to your room instantly! You are my +wife, and shall obey me." "Is this usage to be borne?" exclaimed +Marietta, "Will no one step forward to protect me from his violence?" +"Insolent fellow!" cried Angerstoff, "don't presume to insult my +mistress."--"Mistress!" repeated Morvalden. "This to my face!" +and struck him a severe blow. Angerstoff sprung forward, with the +intention of returning it, but I got between them, and prevented him. +Marietta then began to shed tears, and applauded the generosity her +paramour had evinced in sparing her husband, who immediately went upon +deck, without speaking a word, and hurriedly resumed the work that had +engaged his attention previous to the quarrel. + +Neither of the two men seemed at all disposed for a reconciliation, +and they had no intercourse during the whole day, except angry and +revengeful looks. I frequently observed Marietta in deep consultation +with Angerstoff, and easily perceived that the subject of debate had +some relation to her injured husband, whose manner evinced much alarm +and anxiety, although he endeavoured to look calm and cheerful. He did +not make his appearance at meals, but spent all his time upon deck. +Whenever Angerstoff accidentally passed him, he shrank back with an +expression of dread, and intuitively, as it were, caught hold of a +rope, or any other object to which he could cling. The day proved a +wretched and fearful one to me, for I momentarily expected that some +terrible affray would occur on board, and that I would be implicated +in it. I gazed upon the surrounding sea almost without intermission, +ardently hoping that some boat might approach near enough to afford me +an opportunity of quitting the horrid and dangerous abode in which I +was imprisoned. + +It was Angerstoff's watch on deck till midnight; and as I did not wish +to have any communication with him, I remained below. At twelve +o'clock Morvalden got up and relieved him, and he came down to the +cabin, and soon after retired to his berth. Believing, from this +arrangement, that they had no hostile intentions, I lay down in bed +with composure, and fell asleep. It was not long before a noise +overhead awakened me. I started up, and listened intently. The +sound appeared to be that of two persons scuffling together, for a +succession of irregular footsteps beat the deck, and I could hear +violent blows given at intervals. I got out of my berth, and entered +the cabin, where I found Marietta standing alone, with a lamp in her +hand. "Do you hear that?" cried I.--"Hear what?" returned she; "I have +had a dreadful dream--I am all trembling." "Is Angerstoff below?" +demanded I.--"No--Yes, I mean," said Marietta. "Why do you ask that? +He went up-stairs." "Your husband and he are fighting. We must part +them instantly."--"How can that be?" answered Marietta; "Angerstoff is +asleep." "Asleep! Didn't you say he went up-stairs?"--"I don't know," +returned she; "I am hardly awake yet--Let us listen for a moment." + +Everything was still for a few seconds; then a voice shrieked out, +"Ah! that knife! you are murdering me! Draw it out! No help! Are you +done? Now--now--now!" A heavy body fell suddenly along the deck, and +some words were spoken in a faint tone, but the roaring of the sea +prevented me from hearing what they were. + +I rushed up the cabin stairs, and tried to push open the folding-doors +at the head of them, but they resisted my utmost efforts. I knocked +violently and repeatedly to no purpose. "Some one is killed," cried I. +"The person who barred these doors on the outside is guilty."--"I know +nothing of that," returned Marietta. "We can't be of any use +now.--Come here again!--how dreadfully quiet it is. My God!--a drop of +blood has fallen through the skylight.--What faces are yon looking +down upon us?--But this lamp is going out.--We must be going through +the water at a terrible rate--how it rushes past us!--I am getting +dizzy.--Do you hear these bells ringing? and strange voices----" + +The cabin doors were suddenly burst open, and Angerstoff next moment +appeared before us, crying out, "Morvalden has fallen overboard. Throw +a rope to him!--He will be drowned." His hands and dress were marked +with blood, and he had a frightful look of horror and confusion. +"You are a murderer!" exclaimed I, almost involuntarily.--"How do +you know that?" said he, staggering back; "I'm sure you never saw--" +"Hush, hush," cried Marietta to him; "are you mad? Speak again!--What +frightens you?--Why don't you run and help Morvalden?" "Has XXXX +anything happened to him?" inquired Angerstoff, with a gaze of +consternation.--"You told us he had fallen overboard," returned +Marietta; "must my husband perish?"--"Give me some water to wash my +hands," said Angerstoff, growing deadly pale, and catching hold of +the table for support. + +I now hastened upon deck, but Morvalden was not there. I then went to +the side of the vessel, and put my hands on the gunwale, while I +leaned over, and looked downwards. On taking them off, I found them +marked with blood. I grew sick at heart, and began to identify +myself with Angerstoff the murderer. The sea, the beacon, and the +sky, appeared of a sanguine hue; and I thought I heard the dying +exclamations of Morvalden sounding a hundred fathom below me, and +echoing through the caverns of the deep. I advanced to the cabin door, +intending to descend the stairs, but found that some one had fastened +it firmly on the inside. I felt convinced that I was intentionally +shut out, and a cold shuddering pervaded my frame. I covered my face +with my hands, not daring to look around; for it seemed as if I +was excluded from the company of the living, and doomed to be the +associate of the spirits of drowned and murdered men. After a little +time I began to walk hastily backwards and forwards; but the light of +the lantern happened to flash on a stream of blood that ran along the +deck, and I could not summon up resolution to pass the spot where it +was a second time. The sky looked black and threatening--the sea had a +fierceness in its sound and motions--and the wind swept over its bosom +with melancholy sighs. Everything was sombre and ominous; and I looked +in vain for some object that would, by its soothing aspect, remove the +dark impressions which crowded upon my mind. + +While standing near the bows of the vessel, I saw a hand and arm rise +slowly behind the stern, and wave from side to side. I started back as +far as I could go in horrible affright, and looked again, expecting to +behold the entire spectral figure of which I supposed they formed a +part. But nothing more was visible. I struck my eyes till the light +flashed from them, in hopes that my senses had been imposed upon by +distempered vision. However, it was in vain, for the hand still +motioned me to advance, and I rushed forwards with wild desperation, +and caught hold of it. I was pulled along a little way notwithstanding +the resistance I made, and soon discovered a man stretched along the +stern-cable, and clinging to it in a convulsive manner. It was +Morvalden. He raised his head feebly, and said something, but I could +only distinguish the words "murdered--overboard--reached this +rope--terrible death."--I stretched out my arms to support him, but at +that moment the vessel plunged violently, and he was shaken off the +cable, and dropped among the waves. He floated for an instant, and +then disappeared under the keel. + +I seized the first rope I could find, and threw one end of it over the +stern, and likewise flung some planks into the sea, thinking that the +unfortunate Morvalden might still retain strength enough to catch hold +of them if they came within his reach. I continued on the watch for a +considerable time, but at last abandoned all hopes of saving him, and +made another attempt to get down to the cabin. The doors were now +unfastened, and I opened them without any difficulty. The first thing +I saw on going below, was Angerstoff stretched along the floor, +and fast asleep. His torpid look, flushed countenance, and uneasy +respiration, convinced me that he had taken a large quantity of ardent +spirits. Marietta was in her own apartment. Even the presence of a +murderer appeared less terrible than the frightful solitariness of the +deck, and I lay down upon a bench determining to spend the remainder +of the night there. The lamp that hung from the roof soon went out, +and left me in total darkness. Imagination began to conjure up a +thousand appalling forms, and the voice of Angerstoff, speaking in his +sleep, filled my ears at intervals--"Hoist up the beacon!--the lamps +won't burn--horrible!--they contain blood instead of oil. Is that a +boat coming?--Yes, yes, I hear the oars. Damnation!--why is that +corpse so long of sinking?--if it doesn't go down soon they'll find me +out. How terribly the wind blows!--we are driving ashore--See! see! +Morvalden is swimming after us--how he writhes in the water!" Marietta +now rushed from her room, with a light in her hand, and seizing +Angerstoff by the arm, tried to awake him. He soon rose up with +chattering teeth and shivering limbs, and was on the point of +speaking, but she prevented him, and he staggered away to his berth, +and lay down in it. + +Next morning, when I went upon deck, after a short and perturbed +sleep, I found Marietta dashing water over it, that she might efface +all vestige of the transactions of the preceding night. Angerstoff did +not make his appearance till noon, and his looks were ghastly and +agonised. He seemed stupified with horror, and sometimes entirely lost +all perception of the things around him for a considerable time. He +suddenly came close up to me, and demanded, with a bold air, but +quivering voice, what I had meant by calling him a murderer?--"Why, +that you are one," replied I, after a pause. + +"Beware what you say," returned he fiercely,--"you cannot escape my +power now--I tell you, sir, Morvalden fell overboard."--"Whence, then, +came that blood that covered the deck?" inquired I. He grew pale, and +then cried, "You lie--you lie infernally--there was none!"--"I saw +it," said I--"I saw Morvalden himself--long after midnight. He was +clinging to the stern-cable, and said"--"Ha, ha, ha--devils!--curses!" +exclaimed Angerstoff--"Did you hear me dreaming?--I was mad last +night--Come, come, come!--We shall tend the beacon together--Let us +make friends, and don't be afraid, for you'll find me a good fellow in +the end." He now forcibly shook hands with me, and then hurried down +to the cabin. + +In the afternoon, while sitting on deck, I discerned a boat far off, +but I determined to conceal this from Angerstoff and Marietta, +lest they should use some means to prevent its approach. I walked +carelessly about, casting a glance upon the sea occasionally, and +meditating how I could best take advantage of the means of deliverance +which I had in prospect. After the lapse of an hour, the boat was not +more than half a mile distant from us, but she suddenly changed her +course, and bore away towards the shore. I immediately shouted, and +waved a handkerchief over my head, as signals for her to return. +Angerstoff rushed from the cabin, and seized my arm, threatening at +the same time to push me overboard if I attempted to hail her again. +I disengaged myself from his grasp, and dashed him violently from me. +The noise brought Marietta upon deck, who immediately perceived the +cause of the affray, and cried, "Does the wretch mean to make his +escape? For Godsake, prevent the possibility of that!"--"Yes, yes," +returned Angerstoff; "he never shall leave the vessel--He had as well +take care, lest I do to him what I did to--" "To Morvalden, I +suppose you mean," said I.--"Well, well, speak it out," replied +he ferociously; "there is no one here to listen to your damnable +falsehoods, and I'll not be fool enough to give you an opportunity +of uttering them elsewhere. I'll strangle you the next time you +tell these lies about--" "Come," interrupted Marietta, "don't be +uneasy--the boat will soon be far enough away--If he wants to give you +the slip, he must leap overboard." + +I was irritated and disappointed beyond measure at the failure of the +plan of escape I had formed, but thought it most prudent to conceal my +feelings. I now perceived the rashness and bad consequences of my +bold assertions respecting the murder of Morvalden; for Angerstoff +evidently thought that his personal safety, and even his life, would +be endangered, if I ever found an opportunity of accusing and giving +evidence against him. All my motions were now watched with double +vigilance. Marietta and her paramour kept upon deck by turns during +the whole day, and the latter looked over the surrounding ocean, +through a glass, at intervals, to discover if any boat or vessel was +approaching us. He often muttered threats as he walked past me, +and, more than once, seemed waiting for an opportunity to push me +overboard. Marietta and he frequently whispered together, and I always +imagined I heard my name mentioned in the course of these +conversations. + +I now felt completely miserable, being satisfied that Angerstoff +was bent upon my destruction. I wandered, in a state of fearful +circumspection, from one part of the vessel to the other, not knowing +how to secure myself from his designs. Every time he approached me, my +heart palpitated dreadfully; and when night came on, I was agonised +with terror, and could not remain in one spot, but hurried backwards +and forwards between the cabin and the deck, looking wildly from side +to side, and momentarily expecting to feel a cold knife entering my +vitals. My forehead began to burn, and my eyes dazzled; I became +acutely sensitive, and the slightest murmur, or the faintest breath of +wind, set my whole frame in a state of uncontrollable vibration. At +first, I sometimes thought of throwing myself into the sea; but I soon +acquired such an intense feeling of existence, that the mere idea of +death was horrible to me. + +Shortly after midnight I lay down in my berth, almost exhausted by the +harrowing emotions that had careered through my mind during the past +day. I felt a strong desire to sleep, yet dared not indulge myself; +soul and body seemed at war. Every noise excited my imagination, and +scarcely a minute passed, in the course of which I did not start up +and look around. Angerstoff paced the deck overhead, and when the +sound of his footsteps accidentally ceased at any time, I grew deadly +sick at heart, expecting that he was silently coming to murder me. At +length I thought I heard some one near my bed--I sprung from it, and, +having seized a bar of iron that lay on the floor, rushed into the +cabin. I found Angerstoff there, who started back when he saw me, and +said, "What is the matter? Did you think that--I want you to watch the +beacon, that I may have some rest. Follow me upon deck, and I will +give you directions about it." I hesitated a moment, and then went up +the gangway stairs behind him. We walked forward to the mast together, +and he showed how I was to lower the lantern when any of the lamps +happened to go out, and bidding me beware of sleep, returned to the +cabin. Most of my fears forsook me the moment he disappeared. I felt +nearly as happy as if I had been set at liberty, and, for a time, +forgot that my situation had anything painful or alarming connected +with it. Angerstoff resumed his station in about three hours, and I +again took refuge in my berth, where I enjoyed a short but undisturbed +slumber. + +Next day while I was walking the deck, and anxiously surveying the +expanse of ocean around, Angerstoff requested me to come down to the +cabin. I obeyed his summons, and found him there. He gave me a book, +saying it was very entertaining, and would serve to amuse me during my +idle hours; and then went above, shutting the doors carefully behind +him. I was struck with his behaviour, but felt no alarm, for Marietta +sat at work near me, apparently unconscious of what had passed. I +began to peruse the volume I held in my hand, and found it so +interesting that I paid little attention to anything else, till the +dashing of oars struck my ear. I sprang from my chair, with the +intention of hastening upon deck, but Marietta stopped me, saying, "It +is of no use--the gangway doors are fastened." Notwithstanding this +information, I made an attempt to open them, but could not succeed. I +was now convinced, by the percussion against the vessel, that a boat +lay alongside, and I heard a strange voice addressing Angerstoff. +Fired with the idea of deliverance, I leaped upon a table which stood +in the middle of the cabin, and tried to push off the skylight, but +was suddenly stunned by a violent blow on the back of my head. I +staggered back and looked round. Marietta stood close behind me, +brandishing an axe, as if in the act of repeating the stroke. Her +face was flushed with rage, and, having seized my arm, she cried, +"Come down instantly, accursed villain! I know you want to betray us, +but may we all go to the bottom if you find a chance of doing so." I +struggled to free myself from her grasp, but, being in a state of +dizziness and confusion, I was unable to effect this, and she soon +pulled me to the ground. At that moment, Angerstoff hurriedly entered +the cabin, exclaiming, "What noise is this? Oh, just as I expected! +Has that devil--that spy--been trying to get above boards? Why haven't +I the heart to despatch him at once? But there's no time now. The +people are waiting--Marietta, come and lend a hand." They now forced +me down upon the floor, and bound me to an iron ring that was fixed in +it. This being done, Angerstoff directed his female accomplice to +prevent me from speaking, and went upon deck again. + +While in this state of bondage, I heard distinctly all that passed +without. Some one asked Angerstoff how Morvalden did.--"Well, quite +well," replied the former; "but he's below, and so sick that he can't +see any person." "Strange enough," said the first speaker, laughing. +"Is he ill and in good health at the same time? he had as well be +overboard as in that condition."--"Overboard!" repeated Angerstoff, +"what!--how do you mean?--all false!--but listen to me,--Are there any +news stirring ashore?"--"Why," said the stranger, "the chief talk +there just now is about a curious thing that happened this morning. A +dead man was found upon the beach, and they suspect, from the wounds +on his body, that he hasn't got fair play. They are making a great +noise about it, and Government means to send out a boat, with an +officer on board, who is to visit all the shipping round this, that he +may ascertain if any of them has lost a man lately. 'Tis a dark +business; but they'll get to the bottom of it, I warrant ye.--Why, you +look as pale as if you knew more about this matter than you choose to +tell."--"No, no, no," returned Angerstoff; "I never hear of a murder +but I think of a friend of mine who--but I won't detain you, for the +sea is getting up--we'll have a blowy night, I'm afraid." "So you +don't want any fish to-day?" cried the stranger, "then I'll be +off--Good morning, good morning. I suppose you'll have the Government +boat alongside by-and-by." I now heard the sound of oars, and +supposed, from the conversation having ceased, that the fishermen had +departed. Angerstoff came down to the cabin soon after, and released +me without speaking a word. + +Marietta then approached him, and, taking hold of his arm, said, "Do +you believe what that man has told you?"--"Yes, by the eternal hell!" +cried he, vehemently; "I suspect I will find the truth of it soon +enough." "My God!" exclaimed she, "what is to become of us?--How +dreadful! We are chained here, and cannot escape."--"Escape what?" +interrupted Angerstoff;--"girl, you have lost your senses. Why should +we fear the officers of justice? Keep a guard over your tongue." "Oh," +returned Marietta, "I talk without thinking, or understanding my own +words; but come upon deck, and let me speak with you there." They now +went up the gangway stairs together, and continued in deep +conversation for some time. + +Angerstoff gradually became more agitated as the day advanced. He +watched upon deck almost without intermission, and seemed irresolute +what to do, sometimes sitting down composedly, and at other times +hurrying backwards and forwards, with clenched hands and bloodless +cheeks. The wind blew pretty fresh from the shore, and there was a +heavy swell; and I supposed, from the anxious looks with which he +contemplated the sky, that he hoped the threatening aspect of the +weather would prevent the government boat from putting out to sea. He +kept his glass constantly in his hand, and surveyed the ocean through +it in all directions. + +At length he suddenly dashed the instrument away, and exclaimed, "God +help us! they are coming now!" Marietta, on hearing this, ran wildly +towards him, and put her hands in his, but he pushed her to one side, +and began to pace the deck, apparently in deep thought. After a +little time, he started, and cried, "I have it now!--It's the only +plan--I'll manage the business--yes, yes--I'll cut the cables, and +off we'll go--that's settled!" He then seized an axe, and first +divided the hawser at the bows, and afterwards the one attached to +the stern. + +The vessel immediately began to drift away, and having no sails or +helm to steady her, rolled with such violence that I was dashed from +side to side several times. She often swung over so much that I +thought she would not regain the upright position, and Angerstoff all +the while unconsciously strengthened this belief, by exclaiming, "She +will capsize! shift the ballast, or we must go to the bottom!" In the +midst of this, I kept my station upon deck, intently watching the +boat, which was still several miles distant. I waited in fearful +expectation, thinking that every new wave against which we were +impelled would burst upon our vessel and overwhelm us, while our +pursuers were too far off to afford any assistance. The idea of +perishing when on the point of being saved was inexpressibly +agonising. + +As the day advanced, the hopes I had entertained of the boat making up +with us gradually diminished. The wind blew violently, and we drifted +along at a rapid rate, and the weather grew so hazy that our pursuers +soon became quite indistinguishable. Marietta and Angerstoff appeared +to be stupified with terror. They stood motionless, holding firmly by +the bulwarks of the vessel; and though the waves frequently broke +over the deck, and rushed down the gangway, they did not offer to shut +the companion door, which would have remained open had I not closed +it. The tempest, gloom, and danger that thickened around us, neither +elicited from them any expressions of mutual regard, nor seemed to +produce the slightest sympathetic emotion in their bosoms. They gazed +sternly at each other and at me, and every time the vessel rolled, +clung with convulsive eagerness to whatever lay within their reach. + +About sunset our attention was attracted by a dreadful roaring, which +evidently did not proceed from the waves around us; but the atmosphere +being very hazy, we were unable to ascertain the cause of it for a +long time. At length we distinguished a range of high cliffs, against +which the sea beat with terrible fury. Whenever the surge broke upon +them, large jets of foam started up to a great height, and flashed +angrily over their black and rugged surfaces, while the wind moaned +and whistled with fearful caprice among the projecting points of rock. +A dense mist covered the upper part of the cliffs, and prevented us +from seeing if there were any houses upon their summits, though this +point appeared of little importance, for we drifted towards the shore +so fast that immediate death seemed inevitable. + +We soon felt our vessel bound twice against the sand, and in a little +time after a heavy sea carried her up the beach, where she remained +imbedded and hard aground. During the ebb of the waves there was not +more than two feet of water round her bows. I immediately perceived +this, and watching a favourable opportunity, swung myself down to the +beach by means of part of the cable that projected through the +hawse-hole. I began to run towards the cliffs the moment my feet +touched the ground, and Angerstoff attempted to follow me, that he +might prevent my escape; but, while in the act of descending from the +vessel, the sea flowed in with such violence that he was obliged to +spring on board again to save himself from being overwhelmed by its +waters. + +I hurried on and began to climb up the rocks, which were very steep +and slippery; but I soon grew breathless from fatigue, and found it +necessary to stop. It was now almost dark, and when I looked around, I +neither saw anything distinctly, nor could form the least idea how far +I had still to ascend before I reached the top of the cliffs. I knew +not which way to turn my steps, and remained irresolute, till the +barking of a dog faintly struck my ear. I joyfully followed the sound, +and, after an hour of perilous exertion, discovered a light at some +distance, which I soon found to proceed from the window of a small +hut. + +After I had knocked repeatedly, the door was opened by an old man, +with a lamp in his hand. He started back on seeing me, for my dress +was wet and disordered, my face and hands had been wounded while +scrambling among the rocks, and fatigue and terror had given me a wan +and agitated look. I entered the house, the inmates of which were a +woman and a boy, and having seated myself near the fire, related to my +host all that had occurred on board the floating beacon, and then +requested him to accompany me down to the beach, that we might search +for Angerstoff and Marietta. "No, no," cried he; "that is impossible. +Hear how the storm rages! Worlds would not induce me to have any +communication with murderers. It would be impious to attempt it on +such a night as this. The Almighty is surely punishing them now! Come +here and look out." + +I followed him to the door, but the moment he opened it the wind +extinguished the lamp. Total darkness prevailed without, and a chaos +of rushing, bursting, and moaning sounds swelled upon the ear with +irregular loudness. The blast swept round the hut in violent eddyings, +and we felt the chilly spray of the sea driving upon our faces at +intervals. I shuddered, and the old man closed the door, and then +resumed his seat near the fire. + +My entertainer made a bed for me upon the floor, but the noise of the +tempest, and the anxiety I felt about the fate of Angerstoff and +Marietta, kept me awake the greater part of the night. Soon after +dawn my host accompanied me down to the beach. We found the wreck of +the floating beacon, but were unable to discover any traces of the +guilty pair whom I had left on board of it. + + + + + COLONNA THE PAINTER. + A TALE OF ITALY AND THE ARTS. + +[_MAGA._ SEPTEMBER 1829.] + +[The following "Tale of Italy and the Arts" was submitted in MS. to +the late Mr Coleridge, who signified his approval by giving to the +writer, as an appropriate heading, two then unpublished stanzas from +his admirable translation of Goethe's Song of Mignon in "Wilhelm +Meister," beginning "Kennst du das Land?"] + + Know'st thou the Land where the pale Citrons blow, + And Golden Fruits through dark green foliage glow? + O soft the breeze that breathes from that blue sky! + Still stand the Myrtles and the Laurels high. + Know'st thou it well? O thither, Friend! + Thither with thee, Beloved! would I wend. + + Know'st thou the House? On Columns rests its Height; + Shines the Saloon; the Chambers glisten bright; + And Marble Figures stand and look at me-- + Ah, thou poor Child! what have they done to thee! + Know'st thou it well? O thither, Friend! + Thither with thee, Protector! would I wend. + + S. T. COLERIDGE, _from_ GOETHE. + + +INTRODUCTION. + +After the fall of Napoleon had given peace to Europe, and insipidity +to a soldier's life, I returned with my regiment to B----, and too +soon discovered that the lounging habits and quiet security of parade +and garrison service were miserable substitutes for the high and +stirring excitement of the bivouac, the skirmish, and the battle. I +found myself gradually sinking into a state of mental atrophy, +perilous alike to physical and moral health; and, after a fruitless +struggle of some months with these morbid longings for old habits and +associations, I determined to quit the army, and to realise the +favourite daydream of my early youth--a walk through Italy; hoping, by +two years of travel and incessant intercourse with men and books, to +gain a fresh hold upon life and happiness, and to repair, in some +measure, those deficiencies in my education, which the premature +adoption of a military life had necessarily involved. + +Pausing a few days at Vienna, I formed a friendly intimacy with a +young and intelligent Venetian, of the ancient senatorial house of +F----i; and, on my return through Venice, after a rewarding and +delightful residence of two years in various parts of Italy, I met my +Vienna friend in one of the taverns of St Mark's. After a cordial +greeting, he told me that he was obliged to leave Venice on the +ensuing day, to take possession of an estate and villa in Lombardy, +bequeathed to him by a deceased relative. The gardens, he added, +covered the slope of a woody hill, which commanded a wide view over +the classic shores and environs of the Lake of Garda; and the mansion, +although time-worn and ruinous, contained some fine old paintings, and +a store of old books and manuscripts which had not seen the light for +ages. I had already experienced the keen delight of exploring the +mines of literary wealth contained in the old libraries of Italy, and +I did not hesitate to accept the cordial invitation to accompany him +which closed this alluring description of his Lombard villa. + +We left Venice the following morning, and, proceeding by easy journeys +through Padua and Verona, we reached the villa on the evening of the +third day, and installed ourselves in the least decayed apartments of +the ruinous but still imposing and spacious mansion. On the ensuing +day I rose early, and hastened to examine some large fresco paintings +in the saloon, which had powerfully excited my curiosity during a +cursory view by lamp-light. They were admirably designed, and, from +the recurrence in all of the remarkable form and features of a young +man of great personal beauty, they were evidently a connected series; +but, with the exception of two, the colouring and details were nearly +obliterated by time and the humid air from the contiguous lake. Upon +scrolls beneath the two least injured paintings were the inscriptions +of _La Scoperta_ and _La Vendetta_; and the incidents delineated in +them were so powerfully drawn, and so full of dramatic expression, +that a novelist of moderate ingenuity would readily have constructed +from them an effective romance. The picture subscribed _La Scoperta_ +represented the interior of an elegant saloon decorated in Italian +taste with pictures, busts, and candelabra. In the foreground was +seated a young artist in the plain garb rendered familiar to modern +eyes by the portraits of Raphael and other painters of the sixteenth +century; a short cloak and doublet of black cloth, and tight black +pantaloons of woven silk. The form and features of this youth were +eminently noble. His countenance beamed with dignity and power, and +his tall figure displayed a classic symmetry and grandeur which +forcibly reminded me of that magnificent statue, the reposing +Discobolus. Before him were an easel and canvass, on which was +distinguishable the roughly sketched likeness of a robust and +middle-aged man sitting opposite to him in the middle-ground of the +picture, and richly attired in a Spanish mantle of velvet. His sleeves +were slashed and embroidered in the fashion of the period, and his +belt and dagger glittered with adornments of gold and jewels; while +his golden spurs, and the steel corselet which covered his ample +chest, indicated a soldier of distinguished rank. In the background +stood a tall and handsome youth leaning with folded arms against the +window-niche. He was attired in the splendid costume of the Venetian +nobles, as represented in the portraits of Titian and Paul Veronese, +and his dark eyes were fixed upon the painter and his model with an +expression of intense and wondering solicitude. And truly the +impassioned looks and attitudes of the individuals before him were +well adapted to excite sympathy and astonishment. The young artist sat +erect, his tall figure somewhat thrown back, and his right hand, +holding the pencil, was resting on the elbow of his chair; while from +his glowing and dilated features, intense hatred and mortal defiance +blazed out upon the man whose portrait he had begun to paint. In the +delineation of the broad and knitted brow, the eagle-fierceness of the +full and brilliant eye, and the stern compression of the lips, the +unknown artist had been wonderfully successful, and not less so in the +display of very opposite emotions in the harsh and repulsive +lineaments of the personage sitting for his portrait. The wild +expression of every feature indicated that he had suddenly made some +strange and startling discovery. His face was of a livid and deadly +yellow; his small and deep-set eyes were fixed in the wide stare of +terror upon the artist; and his person was half raised from his seat, +while his hands convulsively clutched the elbows of the chair. In +short, his look and gesture were those of a man who, while unconscious +of danger, had suddenly roused a sleeping lion. + +The companion picture, called _La Vendetta_, portrayed a widely +different scene and circumstance. The locality was a deep ravine, the +shelving sides of which were thickly covered with trees; and the +background of this woody hollow was blocked up to a considerable +height by the leafy branches of recently hewn timber. In the right +foreground were two horses, saddled and bridled, and at their feet +the bleeding corpses of two men, clothed in splendid Greek costume. On +the left of the painting appeared the young Venetian nobleman before +described: he was on horseback, and watching, with looks of deep +interest and excitement, the issue of a mortal combat between the two +prominent figures in _La Scoperta_. But here the younger man was no +longer in the plain and unassuming garb of an artist. He was attired +in a richly embroidered vest of scarlet and gold; white pantaloons of +woven silk displayed advantageously the full and perfect contour of +his limbs; while a short mantello of dark-blue velvet fell gracefully +from his shoulders, and a glossy feather in his Spanish hat waved over +his fine features, which told an eloquent tale of triumph and of +gratified revenge. + +His antagonist, a man of large and muscular proportions, was +apparelled as in the other picture, excepting that he had no mantle, +and was cased in back and breast armour of scaled steel. He had been +just disarmed; his sword, of formidable length, had flown above his +head; while a naked dagger lay on the ground under his left hand, +which hung lifeless by his side, and from a gaping wound in the wrist +issued a stream of blood. + +The sword-point of the young painter was buried in the throat of his +mailed opponent, whose livid hue and rayless eyeballs already +indicated that his wound was mortal. + +I was intently gazing upon these mysterious pictures when my friend +entered the saloon, and in reply to my eager inquiries, informed me +that the series of paintings around us portrayed some romantic family +incidents which had occurred in the sixteenth century; and that these +frescos had been designed by an able amateur artist, who was indeed +the hero of this romance of Italian life, and after whom this +apartment was still called the Saloon of Colonna. The late proprietor +of the villa, he continued, had mentioned some years since the +discovery of a manuscript in the library, which gave a detailed +account of the incidents on these pictured walls, and which, if we +could find it, would well reward the trouble of perusal. + +My curiosity received a fresh impulse from this intelligence. Telling +my friend that I would investigate his books while he visited his +tenants, I proceeded after breakfast to the library; and, after some +hours of fruitless search, I discovered, in a mass of worm-eaten +manuscripts, an untitled, but apparently connected narrative, which +forcibly arrested my attention by the romantic charm of the incidents, +the energy of the language, and the spirited criticisms on fine art +with which it was interwoven. The hero of the tale was an ardent and +imaginative Italian; at once a painter and an improvisatore; a man of +powerful and expansive intellect; and glowing with intense enthusiasm +for classic and ancient lore, and for the beautiful in art and +nature. The diction of this manuscript was, like the man it portrayed, +lofty and impassioned; and, when describing the rich landscapes of +Italy, or the wonders of human art which adorn that favoured region, +it occasionally rose into a sustained harmony, a rhythmical beauty and +balance, of which no modern language but that of Italy is susceptible. +Dipping at random through its pages, I saw with delight the name of +Colonna; and, ere long, discovered an animated description of the +singular scene portrayed in _La Scoperta_. + +On my friend's return in the evening, I held up the manuscript in +triumph as he approached; and, after a repast in the Colonna saloon, +F----i, who, although a Venetian, could read his native tongue with +Roman purity of accent, opened at my request the time-stained volume, +and read as follows. + + +CHAPTER I. + +On a bright May morning, in the year 1575, my gondola was gliding +under the guns of a Turkish frigate in the harbour of Venice, when she +fired a broadside in compliment to the Doge's marriage with the +Adriatic. The rolling of the stately vessel gave a sudden impulse to +the light vehicle in which I was then standing to obtain a better view +of the festivities around me; the unexpected and stunning report +deprived me for a moment of self-possession and balance, and I was +precipitated into the water. The encumbrance of a cloak rendered +swimming impracticable, and, after some vain attempts to remain on the +surface, I went down. When restored to consciousness, I found myself +in the gondola, supported by a young man, whose dripping garments told +me that I had been saved from untimely death by his courage and +promptitude. "Our bath has been a cold one," said he, addressing me +with a friendly and cheering smile. Too much exhausted to reply, I +could only grasp his hand with silent and expressive fervour. This +incident deprived the festival of all attraction; and, soon as I had +regained sufficient strength, the young stranger proposed that we +should return to the city for a change of dress. Still weak and +exhausted, I gladly assented to his proposal, and we left the +Bucentoro escorted by a thousand vessels, and saluted by the thunders +of innumerable cannon, proceeding to the open sea to celebrate the +high espousals. + +My companion left me at the portal of my father's palace. He refused +to enter it, nor would he reveal his name and residence; but he +embraced me cordially, and promised an early visit. During the +remainder of the day, I could not for a moment banish the image of my +unknown benefactor from my memory. It was obvious, from his accent, +that he was no Venetian. His language was the purest Tuscan, and +conveyed in a voice rich, deep, and impassioned, beyond any in my +experience. He was attired in the dark and homely garb of a student +in painting; but he was in the full bloom of youth, and his tall +figure was cast in the finest mould of manlike beauty. His raven +locks clustered round a lofty and capacious brow; his full dark +eyes sparkled with intelligence and fire; while his fresh and +finely-compressed lips indicated habits of decision and refinement, +and gave a nameless charm to all he uttered. His deportment was noble +and commanding; his step bounding and elastic; and there was an +impressive and startling vehemence, a fervour and impetuosity in every +look and gesture, which made me regard him as one of a new and almost +supernatural order of beings. My heart swelled with an aching and +uncontrollable impatience to see him again, which quickened every +pulse to feverish rapidity; my senses, however, were still confused +and giddy with long immersion in the water, and I endeavoured to +recruit my exhausted powers by repose. The evening found me more +tranquil, and I wandered forth to view the regatta on the grand canal. +These boat-races greatly contribute to form the skill and energy which +distinguish the Venetian mariners. Strength, dexterity, and ardour, +are indispensable to success in contending for the prizes; and the +eager competition of the candidates imparts an intense interest to +these festivities, which require only a Pindar to elevate them into +classical importance. The entire surface of the spacious canal was +foaming with the dash of oars, and resounding with the exuberant +gaiety of the Venetians; while the tapestried balconies of the +surrounding palaces were crowded with all the beauty and chivalry of +Venice; and the glittering windows reflected the rays of the setting +sun upon happy faces innumerable. + +Proceeding to the place of St Mark, I paced in a contemplative mood +over its surface until the day closed, and the night-breeze diffused a +delicious coolness. I looked into several of the taverns under the +arcades to observe the company assembled, and fancied that I discerned +in one of them the generous youth who had rescued me from such +imminent danger. Availing myself of Venetian privilege, I entered +without unmasking, and found my conjecture verified. This tavern was +the habitual resort of the artists resident in Venice, and the +assembled individuals appeared to be engaged in vehement controversy. + +Paul Veronese was addressing them as I entered. "Who," said he, "is +most competent to pass judgment upon a work of art? Certainly the man +who has accurately observed the appearances of nature, and who can +determine the limits of art. I despise the dotards who contend that a +man of taste and intellect must have been a dauber of canvass, before +he can decide upon the merits of a picture. The ludicrous certificate +of approval which the German horse-dealers chalked upon the bronze +horses of St Mark's, outweighed, in my estimation, a volume of +professional cant. Trained to a sound knowledge of their trade in the +studs of Germany, they felt and understood all the excellence of these +magnificent works of art. They recognised at once the noble character +of the animal, and even distinguished the peculiar attributes of each +individual horse. The superlative excellence of their heads, and the +fiery impatience of control which they exhibit, cannot be understood +or conveyed by mere perseverance in drawing. No painter, who resides +in the interior, can understand the merits of a sea-piece; nor can the +devout Fra Bartolomeo criticise a Venus of our venerable Titian so +well as any despot of the East who owns a seraglio." + +"True," replied another artist, whose full round tones and rich +emphasis bespoke him a Roman; "but taste is not intuitive; nor can it +be attained by merely studying the appearances of nature and the +theories of art. We must also explore the rich treasures of painting +which adorn and dignify our beautiful Italy. It is not enough, +however, to study a single specimen of each great master; we must +patiently and repeatedly examine his progressive improvements and his +various styles. By perseverance in this process, a young artist will +beneficially exercise his eye and his judgment, and will readily +distinguish the best pictures in a collection. Any degree of +discipline short of this will be inadequate to raise him above the +level of the mob, which followed in procession the Madonna of Cimabue, +and lauded it as the _ne plus ultra_ of art because they had never +seen anything better." + +The young stranger now addressed them with much animation: "I presume +not to decide," said he, "how far the last speaker is correct in his +opinions. The incessant noise on the piazza precludes any deliberate +consideration of the subject; but so far as I could collect the +subject of Maestro Paul's opinion, I understood him to insist upon +the necessity of knowing the limits of art. I trust he will pardon +so young an artist for uttering sentiments at variance with his own; +and that I shall not lose ground in his esteem if I contend that +every object in art is material, and that ideal forms and models of +excellence are absurdities. An Aspasia and a Phryne, youthful and +lovely, maybe elevated into a Pallas and a Venus by an able and +imaginative painter, whose excited fancy will readily improve upon +his models, and invest each feature, form, and attitude, with +classical and appropriate expression. But an ideal and perfectly +beautiful woman, destitute of every attribute arising from climate and +national peculiarities, is a phantom of the brain. And yet how many +common-place artists, who have consumed the most valuable portion of +their lives in drawing from plaster-casts, call these insufferably +vacant faces and forms genuine art, and affect to look down upon the +master-spirits who have immortalised themselves by matchless portraits +of the great men and beautiful women of their own times!" + +The parties soon after separated, and Paul Veronese left the tavern, +accompanied by the stranger. I followed, and observed them walking +round the piazza, and pausing occasionally to listen to the melodious +barcarolos, and sportive sallies of the gay Venetians. At the entrance +of the Merceria the youth saluted and left his companion, and I +promptly availed myself of the opportunity to unmask and approach him. +He immediately recognised me, and expressed himself gratified to +observe that my accident had been unattended with evil consequence. +I repeated warmly my acknowledgments, and assured him of my ardent +wish to prove my gratitude by rendering him any service in my power. +He appeared, however, rather disconcerted than pleased by these +professions, and exclaimed with some vehemence, "What have I done for +you that I would not readily have attempted for the lowest of human +beings? How many a wretch throws himself from a precipice into the +deep to bring up a paltry coin! I have been taught to think that +exaggerated praise for the performance of a mere act of duty has a +tendency to promote vanity and cowardice; and I predict the decay +of true heroism and public spirit from the growing practice of +commemorating trivial events and trivial men by statues, columns, +and inscriptions." + +"You may disclaim all merit," I replied; "but I cannot forget that, to +save the life of a stranger, you bounded from the lofty bulwark of a +frigate. I maintain that there is something god-like in the man who +hazards his life with such generous promptitude; and I think you +cannot but admit that gratitude is the strongest and most agreeable +tie which binds society together. Surely, then, if the fervent and +enthusiastic expression of it be a failing, it is an amiable one." + +He took my hand and gave me a look of cordial sympathy, but said +nothing in reply. I warmly urged him to pass the evening with me; he +assented, and we proceeded in a gondola up the grand canal to my +abode. During supper the conversation was gay and spirited, but +confined to generalities; and it was not until we were released from +the presence of menials that our ideas flowed with unrestrained +freedom and confidence. The government and state-policy of Venice were +passed in review; and my guest lauded the wisdom of the senate in +having embraced the first opportunity of concluding with honour the +arduous struggle they had maintained against the formidable power of +Turkey. He rejoiced that the Doge could again espouse the Adriatic +sea-nymph with all the accustomed display of pomp and power, and +remarked how essential to the safety and independence of Venice was +the uninterrupted annual celebration of a festival which fostered the +pride and courage of the people. + +"Our ancient bride," I replied, "has of late exhibited some ominous +symptoms of caprice and inconstancy. The ceremony should have taken +place two days since, but the wild goddess was restive and untameable, +and insulted the old Doge, her destined spouse, by rolling the bodies +of a dozen drowned wretches up the grand canal to the stairs of his +palace. Pope Alexander III., who exercised some influence over the +capricious fair one, is unfortunately no more; and Columbus, the hero +of whom Genoa proved herself so unworthy, has explored and subdued for +the princes of Castile the genuine Amphitrite, in comparison with whom +the bride of Venice is a mere nymph." + +"The destinies of Venice," he observed, with a touch of sarcasm in his +manner, "must be accomplished. She has reached, and probably passed, +the climax of her political greatness. Other nations, in the vigour of +youth, and possessing greater local advantages, have commenced their +maritime career, and this proud republic must submit to decline and +fall, as mightier states have done before her. Already I perceive +symptoms of unsoundness in her political institutions, of declining +energy and shallow policy in the conduct of her wars and negotiations. +If you could not preserve by resolute defence the Isle of Cyprus, +which has owned your sway for a century, you might have saved it by +the easy and obvious expedient of allowing the Sultan to receive at a +cheaper rate his annual supply of its delicious wines, and by refusing +to shelter in the harbour of Famaugusta the Christian corsairs who +capture the beauties destined for the seraglio. The sweet island of +Love is now lost for ever to the state of Venice, and its incomparable +wines become every year more rare and costly throughout Italy." + +The keen edge of his remarks touched me sensibly, and wounded all my +pride of birth and country. This revulsion of feeling did not escape +the quick perceptions of my guest: the recollection that he was +speaking thus unguardedly to the son of a Venetian senator seemed to +flash upon him, and he closed the discussion by remarking, with a +smile, that we were in Venice, that Venetian walls possessed the +faculty of hearing, and that there would be discretion in a change of +subject. I briefly assented to the necessity of being guarded in the +vicinity of Venetian domestics, who were occasionally agents of the +police; and, after a pause of recollection, he resumed. + +"It is time," said he, "that I should speak of myself and of my object +in Venice. I am a native of Florence, and a painter. Wearied and +disgusted with the skeletons of Florentine art, I came here to study +the flesh and blood of the Venetian school. The works of Titian +realise everything which is valuable and essential in the art of +painting, and the student who does not pursue the track of this great +master will never attain high rank as a painter. In Venice, the public +voice has supreme jurisdiction in matters of taste and fine art, +and the artists collectively exercise little influence on public +opinion. Titian fascinates all amateurs, and every artist admits his +incomparable excellence in the great essential of painting, which is +truth of colouring." + +"I am still too much a novice in the theories of your beautiful art," +I replied, "to contend this point with you; but you will pardon me if +I suggest the probability that you are disgusted with the severity of +the Tuscan school. Your abhorrence of the yoke you have escaped from +impels you to the other extreme, and your admiration of Venetian art +is heightened by contrasting the flesh and blood of Titian with the +bones and sinews of Michael Angelo. Nevertheless, I will hazard a +prediction, that instead of abandoning for ever the sound principles +of the Florentine school, you will eventually resume and abide by +them. Our graceful Titian is the prince of colourists, but it must be +admitted that his drawing seldom rises above mediocrity." + +"You must excuse me," he retorted with a smile, "if I doubt whether +your position can be maintained. I infer from the tendency of your +remarks that you consider drawing of primary importance. I admit that +drawing is essential to give truth and symmetry of proportion, and is +therefore a necessary evil; but a finished picture represents the +surfaces of things: surfaces are distinguishable only by colouring, +and therefore I maintain that colouring is the real object--the alpha +and omega--of art. To class drawing above painting, is to prefer the +scaffold to the building--the rude and early stages to the full and +rich maturity of art. What are the sharp and vigorous lines of Michael +Angelo but dreams and shadows, compared with the pure and exquisite +vitality of a head by Titian? Any beardless tyro may, by plodding +industry, produce a drawing as accurate, if not as free, as the +off-hand sketches of Raffaelle; but to delineate real life with its +exquisitely blended tints and demi-tints; its tender outlines, and +evanescent shades of character and expression,--to accomplish all this +by lines and angles is impossible. It requires the magic aid of +colouring, controlled by that deep and rare perception of the +beautiful, that wondrous harmony of intellect and feeling, which is +the immediate gift of heaven, and the proudest, highest attribute of +man." + +"I am by no means insensible to the charms of the Venetian school," I +rejoined; "and I admit, in many respects, the force of your reasoning. +It is, however, a question with me, whether the enthusiastic disciples +of Titian are not in danger of pursuing the material and perishable, +rather than the intellectual and permanent in painting. The glorious +colouring of this great master will fade under the action of time and +humidity, and betray his deficiencies in drawing; whereas the moral +grandeur of Michael Angelo's frescos, which derive no aid from colour, +will endure as long as the walls which they adorn. I would gladly hear +you contest this point with the Roman artist who addressed Maestro +Paul this evening at the tavern. I feel too much my own deficiency in +technical phrase and knowledge to vindicate my opinions successfully." + +"That Roman," said he, "is an intellectual and accomplished man, but +he wants a painter's eye, and should rather have devoted his time and +talents to literature. He has, however, pursued the fine arts +professionally, and he is eloquent and resolute in the defence of his +opinions: but the nature which he has studied is destitute of life and +colouring; it exists only in marble and plaster, and he would rather +copy the single and motionless attitude of an antique statue, than +study the fine forms and eloquent features with which Italy abounds. +He is, in short, a sedentary idler, who will not take the trouble to +read the great book of nature, and would rather fire at a wooden eagle +on a pole, than pursue the kingly bird amidst the wild scenery of the +Apennines. He assumed the unwarrantable liberty of severely censuring +Paul Veronese's grand picture of the 'Nuptials of Cana,' in the +presence of that noble artist. He objected to the insignificant +appearance of Jesus and his disciples, and to their position at the +table in the middle-ground of the picture. The painter introduced them +into this great work because their presence was indispensable; but he +avoided giving them any prominent position, conceiving it impossible +for any human artist to convey an adequate personification of our +glorious Redeemer. Moreover, they were but accessary to his real +object, which was to represent the busy crowd of guests, the banquet, +and the architecture. In these respects the artist has been eminently +successful. The painting abounds with harmony, and the incidents are +told with all the life and spirit of a Spanish novel. The most +prominent figures are musicians at a table in the foreground, +performing a concert upon elegant instruments. Paul Veronese is +leading with grace and spirit on the violin; Titian, the great ruler +of harmony, is performing on the violoncello; Bassano and Tintorett, +upon other instruments. They are painted with wonderful truth of +character and expression; they are magnificently attired; and their +personal appearance is eminently noble and dignified. Around the +bride's table are assembled the most distinguished personages of the +present age; all admirable portraits, and abounding with dramatic +expression. The atmosphere in the background is clear and transparent, +and exhibits in sharp and brilliant relief the Palladian magnificence +of the architecture; while the busy foreground is enriched with a +gorgeous display of vases and other materials of the banquet, adorned +with chasings of splendid and classical design. The light throughout +the foreground and middle distance is wonderfully natural, and clearly +develops the numerous groups and figures comprehended in this colossal +work. What man of sense and feeling can behold this wondrous +achievement of human art, and not long to feast his eyes upon it for +ever? + +"This fastidious Roman expressed also his annoyance at the inaccuracy +of the costume, in Paul's fine picture of the 'Family of Darius +presented to Alexander,' and lamented that so admirable a work should +have been blemished by this gross anachronism. You are, doubtless, +well acquainted with a painting which belongs to a branch of your +family. It may be truly called the triumph of colouring; and certainly +more harmony, splendour, and loveliness, never met together in one +picture. To these merits must be added the truth of character which +prevails in all the heads, most of which are portraits. Forget for a +moment that the incident is borrowed from ancient story; imagine it +the victory of a hero of the sixteenth century, and the painting +becomes, in all respects, a masterpiece. The architecture, in the +background, gives a tone to the whole; but it required the delicate +outlines and the exquisite perception of harmonious colouring which +distinguish Paul Veronese, to give relief and contrast to the figures +and draperies on so light a ground. The pyramidal group, formed by +anold man and four female figures, is superlatively lovely; the +countenances wonderfully expressive, and sparkling with animation. The +head of Alexander is beautiful, but deficient in masculine firmness, +and more adapted to charm the softer sex than to awe the world; while +the nobler features of Parmenia exhibit a strength of character finely +contrasted with the more feminine graces of the royal conqueror, and +his yellow drapery is admirably folded and coloured. How exquisitely +finished, too, is the long and beautifully braided flaxen hair of +the Persian Princesses! And what a host of figures in this noble +picture, most of them the size of life, as in the 'Nuptials of Cana!' +Certainly, this painting is nearly unrivalled in close fidelity to +nature; and in the truth and splendour of its colouring, it yields +only to that triumphant specimen of Venetian art in the Scuola della +Carità, Titian's 'Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple,' These +two pictures will long maintain their glorious supremacy, and will +probably never be surpassed. This painter's violation of costume is, +in fact, only a defect in the eyes of antiquarians. The great mass of +society overlook it, and care only for what gratifies the eye and the +imagination. Nevertheless I would recommend to artists generally the +avoidance of subjects borrowed from ancient history. It is far easier +to excel in the folds and colourings of modern drapery, than to +delineate the light garb and native elegance of Grecian forms. Nor +could any painters, but those who lived in the times of Pericles and +Aspasia, do justice to those most classical and graceful of all +subjects. Oh! how I burn with impatient ardour to behold the storied +isles and continent of Greece! Their ancient splendour is no more, but +their pure and temperate clime still develops the noblest specimens of +the human race." + +"Had our acquaintance commenced some years sooner," said I, +interrupting him, "I could have gratified your wish. I accompanied my +father, who went to Greece on a mission from the republic, and I +remained three years on the classic soil of Homer and Sophocles. I was +too young to make the most of my opportunities, but I succeeded in my +attempts to master the modern language, and at the same time greatly +improved my knowledge of ancient Greek." + +At these words my companion started impetuously from his chair, and +strained me in a vehement embrace. + +"Oh! rare and fortunate incident!" he exclaimed; "you are the +companion I have so long and vainly sought. A man so distinguished by +nobility of mind and person, and yet so young, it has never been my +good fortune to meet with. You will, you must be, the chosen friend of +my soul!" + +I could not but suspect that some mystery was involved in this abrupt +and somewhat premature tender of his friendship; but I returned his +embrace with grateful ardour. It was impossible to resist the +contagion of his impassioned and headlong feelings. I trembled with +emotion, and vainly endeavoured to express in connected language how +greatly I valued his good opinion. It was midnight when he left me, +promising a long and early visit on the succeeding day. + +I retired to bed in a state of excitement which banished sleep. To +subdue the vivid impression made upon me by the events of the day and +evening was impossible. I had, perhaps too unwarily, given a pledge of +fervent and enduring friendship to a man whose name and connections +were a mystery, and of whose character and previous life my ignorance +was absolute: but the singular charm of his language and deportment +was even enhanced by the obscurity which enveloped him, and I yielded +unresistingly to the spell in which he had bound me. + +I had never yet beheld the man whose tastes and pursuits assimilated +so entirely with my own. He was, however, incomparably my superior in +natural and acquired advantages. He possessed more variety, more +fulness and accuracy of knowledge, and he displayed a vigour and +opulence of language which often rose with the occasion into the lofty +and impassioned eloquence of poetry. His soul was more expansive and +liberal than mine, but at the same time more uncontrolled, rash, and +intemperate. He had doubtless those defects, which, in Italy, often +accompany an ardent and impetuous character; and, under strong +provocation, he would not hesitate probably to inflict an unsparing +and formidable revenge: but surely a generous heart and a commanding +intellect will redeem many failings, and even palliate those desperate +alternatives to which men of noble nature and of pure intention are +sometimes impelled by the defects of our social institutions. + + +CHAPTER II. + +At an early hour on the following morning I heard the emphatic tread +of the young painter in the corridor. In a moment he entered my +apartment, and his appearance renewed in some degree my emotion. "Our +feelings had too much of lyric riot in them last night," said he, +smiling; "such excitement is exhausting, and cannot be long sustained +without approximation to fever. I shall never learn moderation in my +attachments, but I am resolved to lower the expression of them to a +more temperate standard; and with this object I will, if agreeable to +you, endeavour to create occupation for our intellects as well as our +feelings." + +He then inquired if I had practised drawing, and to what extent. I +told him that I had been in the habit of sketching the fine lake and +mountain scenery of Lombardy; but that my ambition was to draw the +human figure from living models, which I regarded as the only avenue +by which any degree of excellence could be attained. + +"If you will accept of my assistance," he replied, "we can immediately +commence a course of elementary studies of the human figure; after +which," added he sportively, "you may employ me as a model. In return +for my instructions in painting, you must promote my ardent wish to +attain a competent knowledge of modern Greek. I have a sacred duty to +perform in one of the Greek islands, and shall proceed there in the +ensuing autumn." + +"We cannot effectually realise your suggestion," I rejoined, "unless +we abandon for a while the riot and revelry of Venice. My father is at +present in Dalmatia, and I am pledged to pass the summer in the +country with my excellent and respected mother, who is preparing for +departure, and will probably quit Venice at the close of the present +week. The villa we inhabit during the summer heats is in the most +charming district of Lombardy, and near the spot where the rapid +Mincio receives the pure waters of the lake of Garda. You must +accompany me to this earthly paradise, where we can enjoy the cool +breezes from the lake and mountains, and explore the bright scenery of +its classic shores and the peninsula of Sirmio, sung in glowing verse +by Catullus. There we can repose under the dark umbrage of orange and +myrtle groves, drink deep of the beauties of Pindar, and bind our +temples with wreaths of laurel. But I have not yet introduced you to +my mother. She is aware that a stranger saved me from a watery death +in the harbour, and will welcome gratefully the preserver of her only +son. She has a fine taste for pictures, and is an enthusiastic admirer +of beautiful Madonnas. If you will paint one for her private chapel, +and subdue in some measure the impetuous ardour of your deportment in +her presence, she will receive and cherish you as a son." + +While thus addressing him, I perceived a sudden contraction of his +fine features, indicative of strong internal emotion, the mystery of +which was not developed for a considerable period after this +conversation. At length he approached me, and, with a look of intense +interest, inquired how near my father's villa was to Peschiera on the +lake of Garda. "Within a league of it," I replied. Again he paced the +apartment in silent abstraction, when suddenly his eagle-eye was +lighted up with more than its wonted fire, and he exclaimed with +animation, "Agreed! I will accompany you to Lombardy, and should I +prove acceptable to your mother as a guest, I will paint a Madonna for +her chapel. On my discretion, and my respect for her habits and +feelings, you may rely." + +On the succeeding day I introduced him to my mother. The elegant +freedom of his address, and the spirit and originality of his +conversation, made an immediate and favourable impression upon +my beloved parent; and she afterwards acknowledged to me that, +independently of his noble exterior, and his powerful claim upon her +gratitude, she had never been so strongly prepossessed. It was on this +occasion that he named himself Colonna. Since his refusal to reveal +his name on the first day of our acquaintance, I had never repeated +the inquiry. Subsequently, however, I discovered that this appellation +had been assumed under circumstances of a disastrous and compulsory +nature. After his interview with my mother, I accompanied him to his +abode, where I was gratified with a view of the paintings and sketches +which he had executed in Venice. His figures were fresh and masterly; +his colouring had all the brilliant glow of the Venetian painters; +while his bold and beautiful designs betrayed, as I had anticipated, +the accurate drawing of the Tuscan school. His studies were from the +antique, and from Italian life: naked figures, or with little drapery; +female heads abounding with expression and loveliness; arms and legs, +backs and busts; naked boys, bathing, running, and wrestling. He +intimated that he had never yet painted for emolument, nor for the +gratification of others; and added, carelessly, "what farther concerns +me shall be revealed to you in our hours of leisure by the lake of +Garda." + +On the appointed morning we quitted Venice. Our bark issued from the +grand canal at an early hour, glided silently over the smooth surface +of the laguna, and approached the entrance of the Brenta. The sun was +rising in veiled and purple majesty through the soft mists of a +summer morning, and the towers and churches of Venice appeared +floating in thin vapour. Colonna ascended the deck, and, folding his +arms, gazed with evident emotion on the "City of Palaces," until it +disappeared behind a bank of fog. His chest heaved with some powerful +sympathy, and, for a moment, tears suffused his eyes and veiled their +brightness. His manner implied, I thought, some painful recollections, +or a presentiment that he should never behold Venice again. To me our +departure was a source of relief and enjoyment. In the winter season +Venice is a cheerful and desirable abode, because the population is +dense, and the local peculiarities contribute greatly to promote +public and private festivity: but, during the heats of summer and the +exhalations of autumn, no place is more offensive and pestilential. + +At Padua we separated from my mother, who proceeded with her domestics +by the direct road to Peschiera, while Colonna and I made a deviation +to Vicenza, whither we journeyed on foot; a mode of travelling the +most favourable to colloquial enjoyment, and to an accurate and +comprehensive view of the country. We found the numerous edifices of +Palladio in Vicenza and its vicinity in many respects unworthy of that +noble architect; many of them are indeed remodelled fronts of old +houses, in which the pure taste of the artist was warped by the want +of capability in the original elevations. The palaces built after +his designs are deficient in extent and variety, and may be termed +experimental models, rather than effective illustrations, of his +chaste and classical conceptions. In his triumphal arch at the +entrance of the Campo Marzo we found much to admire, and not less +in his beautiful bridge which spans the Bacchiglione. How bold, and +light, and elegant the arch, like the daring leap of a youthful +amazon! And how cheerful the open balustrade, through which the clear +and sparkling waters are seen rolling their rapid course to the +adjacent city! + +It is in Venice that the fine genius of Palladio develops all its +supremacy. The Cornaro palace on the grand canal, and the unfinished +convent of La Carità, are splendid efforts of pure taste in design and +decoration; and as perfect in execution and finish as if cast in +a mould. His churches too, especially that glorious edifice, Al +Redentore--how simple in design, and yet how beautifully effective +and harmonious in proportion and outline! + +We proceeded on the following morning to Verona, which excited a +stronger interest than Vicenza by its classical associations and +striking position on the river Adige, a lively daughter of the Alps. +Rushing from her mountain bed, she urges her rapid and devious course +through the city, dividing it into two portions, connected by the +bridge of Scaliger. This fine edifice rises on bold arches, wider, and +more heroic, and more scientific, than that of the Rialto, the wonder +of Venice, which is indeed no bridge, but a huge and inconvenient +staircase. + +Pursuing as we journeyed onward the subject of architecture, I +commented on the insignificant appearance of the temples of Pantheism, +when compared with the majestic cathedrals for which the Christian +world is indebted to the barbarians of the middle ages. + +"The Greeks and Romans," observed Colonna, "erected a temple to +each individual of their numerous deities. These buildings were +consequently of limited extent, and their columns of corresponding +proportions. The citizens sacrificed singly to the gods, or attended +public festivals, comprehending large masses of the people; in which +event the officiating priest or priestess entered the temple, and the +assembled votaries were grouped without. In our churches, on the +contrary, the population of a city is often congregated for hours; and +how magnificently adapted for this object is the vast and solemn +interior of a Gothic cathedral, in which the voice of the priest +reverberates like thunder, and the chorus of the people rises like a +mountain-gust, praising the great Father of all, and rousing the +affrighted conscience of the infidel; while the mighty organ, the +tyrant of music, rages like a hurricane, and rolls his deep floods +of sound in sublime accompaniment! How grand were the conceptions of +the rational barbarians, to whom Europe is indebted for these vast +and noble structures! And how immeasurably they surpass, for all +meditative and devotional objects, the modern application of Greek and +Roman temples, on an enlarged scale, to the purposes of Christian +worship! Had any necessity existed to borrow designs from these +sources, we should rather have modelled our churches from their +theatres, the plan of which is admirably fitted for oratorical +purposes, and for the accommodation of numbers." + +We accomplished the last portion of our journey during a night of +superlative beauty. A brilliant and nearly full moon glided with us +through long avenues of lofty elms, linked together by the clustering +tendrils of vines, festooned from tree to tree, and at this season +prodigal of foliage. The coruscations of distant lightning shot +through the clear darkness of Italian night; the moon and evening +star, and Sirius and Orion, soared above us in pure ether, and seemed +to approach our sphere like guardian spirits. The cool breezes which +usher in the dawn now began to whisper through the foliage; a light +vapour arose in the east; and the soft radiance of the first sunbeams +faintly illumined the horizon as we arrived at our destination. Here +the romantic lake of Garda lay expanded before us; its broad surface +ruffled by the mountain breeze, and gleaming like silver in the +moonlight. The waves were heaving in broken and foaming masses, and +reverberated along the rocky shores, finely illustrating the accuracy +of Virgil's descriptive line: + + "Fluctibus et fremitu assurgens marino." + +I retired immediately to rest, not having slept for the preceding +twenty-four hours; while Colonna preferred a morning walk, and +wandered out to view the environs. In the course of the day we +completed our domestic arrangements. My friend occupied a saloon on +the north side of the villa, which commanded an extensive prospect, a +light favourable for painting, and private egress into the open +country; an accommodation which he requested, that his rambling and +irregular habits might occasion no inconvenience to the other inmates +of the mansion. + +After a few days had been devoted to excursions upon and around the +lake, and over the picturesque hills as far as Brescia, we commenced a +more useful and methodical distribution of our time. Colonna began and +completed the sketch of a Madonna for my mother, that he might work +upon it at his leisure; and we read together the Greek poets and +historians: nor did I forget to avail myself of my friend's proffered +assistance to improve my knowledge of drawing and design. Under his +masterly guidance I persevered in drawing geometrical figures until I +could trace them with quickness, freedom, and accuracy. He then +annoyed me for a brief interval with skeletons and anatomical +subjects, directing my attention to the articulation of the joints and +the insertion of the muscles; after which I proceeded to copy his fine +studies of human limbs, both round and muscular, and in the various +attitudes of action and repose. Finally, I began to sketch from living +models, and was pursuing my object with ardour and success, when a +tragical event severed me for a considerable period from my beloved +tutor and friend. + +It had been arranged between us that each should, in his habits, be +perfectly uncontrolled, and independent of the other. Our excursions +were alternately separate, and in company, and Colonna was often +absent from the villa for one or more days and nights, without +exciting observation or surprise. + +He delighted in ranging over the green pastures of Lombardy, hedged in +by lofty trees, festooned with vines, and irrigated by transparent +streams innumerable. The young Tuscan had never before seen nature in +a garb so lovely and inviting; he wandered through the picturesque +villages which margin or overhang the lake of Garda, sojourned with +the peasantry, and sketched their figures and costume. From these +rambles he would often return at sunset over the lake in a small bark, +crowned like a youthful Bacchus with vine leaves and ivy, and singing +wild Dithirambics to his guitar, while the surrounding villagers, by +whom he was idolised, followed him in their boats with shouts of joy +and festivity. + +During the cool nights which, in this hilly region, temper the sickly +heat of an Italian summer, we often wandered along the breezy shores +of our classic Benacus, or sought refreshment in its dark blue waters. +Colonna was an adept in the delightful exercise of swimming, and his +instructions soon imparted to me requisite skill and self-possession. +We plunged from the marble terraces of the villa into the delicious +element, cleaving its moonlit waves, and sporting over its wide +surface like water-gods. + +The Madonna for my mother was finished in August. The artist had +selected the incident of the flight into Egypt, and the mother of +Jesus was reposing in deep shade, under the giant arms and dense +foliage of a maple tree. In the middle distance, a few ilex and +cypress trees were effectively and naturally distributed. The +background was mountain scenery; and from a lofty cliff a river was +precipitated, in a bold and picturesque fall. The waters rebounded +from the gulf below in silver spray, and flowed through a verdant +level into a tranquil and beautiful lake. The most romantic features +of the wilderness around the lake of Garda were faithfully and +beautifully introduced; and the brilliant rays of a sun approaching +the horizon, threw a flood of gold over rock, and wood, and water. The +Madonna was a young and lovely woman, giving nourishment to her +first-born son, and bending over her pleasing task with delighted +attention. The head of the Virgin was after a sketch from life, but +developed and elevated in character, and invested with a breathing +tenderness, a hallowed innocence and purity of expression, which at +once thrilled and saddened the beholder. The boy was a model of +infantine beauty; he supported himself with one little hand on his +mother's breast, which was partially veiled with red drapery, and he +had raised his cherub head and glossy curls from the sweet fount of +life, to look with bright and earnest gaze upon the glowing landscape. +The luxuriant brown hair of the Madonna was confined in a net, from +which a few locks had strayed over her brow and cheek; and her blue +mantle flowed with modest grace over her fine person, revealing, +through its light and well-distributed folds, the graceful and easy +position of the limbs. The eyes of both were radiantly bright, and in +the large, well-opened orbs of the infant Saviour, the painter had +introduced a something never seen in life--a premature and pathetic +seriousness, awfully indicative of his high and hallowed destiny. +Above the stately plane-tree were soaring three angels of more than +Grecian beauty; and their features, in which a sacred innocence of +look was blended with feminine grace and softness, reminded me +powerfully of that exquisite design in Raffaelle's pictorial +Bible--the "three angels before Abraham's threshold." + +In the middle-distance the ass was grazing, and Joseph, whose features +the artist had borrowed from the well-chiselled head of an old +peasant, stood leaning on his staff, like a faithful servant who has +succeeded in rescuing from imminent peril the treasure intrusted to +him. The picture was upright and on a large scale; the Madonna and +Bambino were painted the size of life, and the rich colouring of the +heads and draperies was finely relieved by the local tints and highly +finished bark and leafage of the plane-tree, behind which the immense +landscape receded in wide and brilliant perspective. + +My mother was inexpressibly delighted with this valuable token of his +regard, and her affection for the highly-gifted painter became truly +maternal. + +About this period I remarked a mysterious change in the looks and +habits of Colonna. His prompt and flowing language gave place to a +moody and oppressive silence; his deportment was occasionally more +abrupt and impassioned; and his eloquent features betrayed some hidden +source of grief and perplexity. The increased duration and frequency +of his rambles from the villa excited at length my attention and +remonstrance. In justification, he pleaded, as before, that he was a +man of itinerant habits, and too mercurial in temperament to remain +long in any place. This explanation had now, however, ceased to +be satisfactory. Our intercourse was obviously less cordial and +incessant. He had of late rarely sought my society in his excursions, +and this circumstance, in connection with his altered look and manner, +made me suspect some change in his feelings towards me. I determined +to solve a mystery so painful and embarrassing, and succeeded ere +long in obtaining his confession, during a still and beautiful night, +a large portion of which we passed together in a myrtle arbour, which +crowned a cool eminence in the villa gardens. We had passed some hours +in this delicious solitude, enjoying the pure night-breeze, and +admiring the soft and silver tints diffused by an Italian moon over +the lake and landscape. Our spirits were elevated by wine, and song, +and conversation; and our hearts communed together, and expanded into +more than usual freedom and confidence. I described to him the fair +objects of several fleeting attachments, and acknowledged that +my experience of female excellence had never yet realised the +expectations I had formed. "I anticipated from you, however," I +continued, "some illustrations of that wayward thing, the human heart. +A youth so ardent in feeling, and so adorned by nature and education, +must necessarily have had no limited experience of the tender passion; +and surely some of the beautiful heads in your portfolio have been +sketched from life, and _con amore_." + +"I do not willingly," he replied, "enter upon acknowledgments of this +nature. They tend to excite feelings of envy, and sometimes expose the +warmest friendship to a severe test. We have now, however, enjoyed +abundant opportunity to study the lights, and shades, and inmost +recesses of our respective characters, and as you have made me your +father-confessor, I shall no longer hesitate to repose in you a +responsive and unbounded confidence. Know, then, that I love, with all +the enthusiasm of a first passion, the most beautiful woman of her +time--that she is the only daughter of the proudest senator in +Venice--that she is no stranger to your family, and now resides within +a league of us. Her name is Laura Foscari; and she is, alas! the +destined and unwilling bride of the opulent Ercole Barozzo, governor +of Candia." + +At this unexpected intelligence, I almost started on my feet with +astonishment. My consternation was too great for utterance, and I +listened with breathless and eager attention. + +"We became acquainted," he continued, "by a singular accident. I had +long admired her as the most lovely woman in Venice. Her head has all +the beauty of a fine antique, lighted up by dark eyes of radiant +lustre, and heightened by a smile of magic power and sweetness. I have +more than once sketched her unrivalled features when she was kneeling +at church, and her fine eyes were upraised in devotional rapture. In +public places, and at mass, I had frequently seen her, and our eyes +had so often met, that she could not but learn from mine how fervently +I admired her. My endeavours to obtain an introduction as an artist to +her father and brothers had been unsuccessful, and at length I was +indebted to a fortunate incident for an opportunity of conversing +with her unobserved. One evening, near the close of the last Carnival, +I saw her enter with her friends the place of St Mark, near the new +church of San Geminiano. She wore only a half-mask, and her graceful +mien and fine person could not be disguised. My mask and domino were +similar to those of her youngest brother, who resembled me also +somewhat in person. The imperfect light and the confusion of the +assembled crowd separated her from her party; and while endeavouring +to rejoin them, she approached me, mistook me for her brother, put her +arm within mine, and with charming vivacity, whispered in my ear some +comments on the motley groups around us. You will readily conjecture +that I promptly availed myself of the brief and golden opportunity. I +glanced rapidly around, and finding that we were unobserved, I +partially raised my mask. She had so often observed me gazing upon her +with undisguised and rapturous admiration, that she recognised me at +once, and tacitly acknowledged it by a blush which suffused every +visible feature with crimson. In glowing and beautiful confusion she +attempted to withdraw her arm, but I retained it firmly, and in +low but emphatic tones, I told her that I had long loved her with +sincerity and ardour; that I could fairly boast of constancy and +discretion, of education and refinement; that no man so well +understood her value, or would encounter and endure so much to win +her affections. All this and more I poured into her ear with rapid and +glowing diction, and with the impassioned gesture which is natural to +me. Timid and irresolute, she accompanied me some paces, paused, and +in trembling emotion again attempted to withdraw her arm, but was +still urged forward by my impetuosity. At length, by a sudden effort, +she escaped; but, as she quitted, whispered with bewitching hesitation +and timidity--'_To-morrow morning, at Santi Giovanni e Paolo._' Soon +as these words fell on my delighted ear, I plunged into the crowd of +masks, in token of my discretion and prompt obedience to her will. The +emotion excited by this early and unexpected proof of sympathy was +so rapturous and overwhelming, that I abandoned myself to all the +extravagance of sudden bliss. I flew on wings of ecstasy along the +streets, bounded over the stairs of the Rialto, and reached my abode +in a state of mind bordering on delirium. During that interminable but +delicious night I neither sought nor wished for repose. I felt as if I +had never known sleep--as if I should never sleep again; and, when my +waking dreams occasionally yielded to brief and agitated slumber, my +excited feelings called up a flitting train of images not less vivid +and enchanting. + +"Long before the commencement of the early mass, I had reached the +church indicated by the beauteous Laura. I was the first to enter it, +and I waited her arrival with an impatience which no words can +describe. Never had the celebration of the mass appeared to me so +wearisome and monotonous; and, in hopes to subdue in some measure the +wild agitation which chafed me, I withdrew the curtain which veiled +Titian's divine picture of Pietro Martire, in which the saint lies +wounded and dying before his assassin. The companion of the prostrate +Pietro is endeavouring to escape a similar fate; and two angels, whose +features are not Italian but Greek, are soaring amidst the foliage, +environed with a heavenly lustre, which throws its bright effulgence +over the foreground of the immense landscape. What a masterpiece! How +full of animation and contrast! What rich and lively local tints in +the slender and graceful stems of the lofty chestnuts, which are +painted the size of nature! And how naturally the glorious landscape +fades into the blue and distant mountains! The half-naked murderer +has all the ferocity of a mountain bandit, in figure, attitude, and +menace; while the wounded saint exhibits in his pale and collapsed +features the dying agony of a good man, blended with a consciousness +that he has achieved the rewarding glories of martyrdom. + +"But no masterpiece could allay the glowing tumults of my soul, and +again I paced the church with feverish impatience. At length the +peerless Laura entered, and, alas, poor Titian! the charms of thy +creative pencil withered as she approached--the vivid splendours of +thy colouring faded before the paramount beauties of nature! She +was attired in the picturesque garb and head-dress of Venice; her +veil was raised; and her fine countenance, radiant with beauty and +intelligence, imparted life, dignity, and lustre to every surrounding +object. + +"She was accompanied by her mother, and after prostration before the +altar, they retired to their devotions in the body of the church. +I stood in a position which enabled me to observe every look and +gesture, and it did not escape me that Laura, while kneeling, cast a +look of supplication towards heaven, and sighed deeply. She soon +became conscious of my presence; and rising, she took a chair, and +fixed upon me a look so deeply penetrative, so fraught with tender +meaning, and yet so timidly, so truly modest, that every chord +of feeling in my frame was thrilled with sudden transport. To +uninterested observers her deportment was tranquil, but ere long I +could discern tokens of deep and anxious thought clouding her lovely +face. Her lips quivered as if in sympathy with some inward feeling of +doubt and apprehension, which at length subsided, and her angelic +features were suddenly irradiated with a tender and enchanting smile. +She then read for some time in her book, and marked a place in it with +a card, to which, by an expressive glance, she directed my attention. +The mass was concluded, the congregation quitted the church, and I +availed myself of the crowded portal to approach and take the card, +which she conveyed to me unperceived. I hastened from the spot, and +seized the first opportunity to read these words--'_Two hours after +midnight, at the postern near the canal._' The card said no more; but, +to a lover, it spoke volumes. + +"These magic words, and the enchantress who had penned them, absorbed +every thought and feeling throughout the never-ending day. In the +evening, I passed and repassed the Foscari palace, until the shape and +position of every door and window were engraven on my memory. I +provided myself with weapons, ordered my gondolier to hold himself +in readiness, and at midnight I proceeded to the Piazza near Maria +Formosa. Enveloped in my mantle, I traversed the pavement with +feverish impetuosity for two hours, which appeared like ages. The +course of nature seemed to stagnate, and the constellations to pause +in their career, as if in mockery of my feelings. I walked with +increased rapidity, and even vaulted into the air with childish +eagerness as if to grasp the heavenly bodies, and accelerate their +lingering progress. At length the last quarter struck. I hastened +through the silent and deserted streets, and strode over the bridges +with a bound as vehement as if I would have spurned them from under +me. I soon arrived at the appointed postern, and waited, all eye and +ear, in a contiguous angle of the wall. Ere long the door was gently +opened, and I heard the music of an angel's voice, bidding me enter +with noiseless steps, and beware of rousing her brothers, whose +violence would endanger my life. In obedient silence I followed her up +a dark staircase into a saloon adjoining the grand canal, and dimly +lighted by a single lamp. The enchanting Laura was attired in a white +robe of elegant simplicity, well fitted to display the perfect +symmetry and luxuriant fulness of her incomparable shape. Her head was +uncovered, and her waving tresses floated in rich profusion over her +shoulders and bosom. Thus unadorned, her beauty was so dazzling and +celestial, that I could have knelt and worshipped her as the Aphrodite +of the Adriatic Paphos. I gazed upon her until I became giddy with +admiration and rapture. Yielding to an irresistible impulse, I lost +all discretion--folded the lovely creature in my embrace--and +impressed a fervent kiss upon her coral lips. + +"'Unhand me, daring youth!' she exclaimed, her fine features flashing +with indignant eloquence as she repulsed me. 'Remember that I am +Foscari's daughter, and do me the justice to believe, that I have not +unadvisedly received you at an hour so unseemly. I was impelled to +this step not only by the regard due to your personal safety, but by +my implicit confidence in the honour of a cavalier. Think not, rash +youth! that a Foscari would condescend, like Bianca Capello, to an +obscure stranger. I know that you are not what you would seem. I know +that 'Colonna the painter' is but the outward shell which hides the +pearl and pride of the Florentine nobility. I have a friend in Venice +who is in confidential intercourse by letter with your aunt Veronica, +and from her I heard in secresy that the study of painting was not +your primary object in Venice, but assumed only to mask some more +important purpose.' + +"Mortified by the indiscretion of my aunt, and sensible of the fatal +consequences it might involve, I soon recovered some degree of +self-control, and apologised to the still offended Laura for the +inconsiderate freedom in which I had indulged. I then disclosed to her +some particulars of my previous history, and expressed, in ardent and +grateful terms my sense of the flattering distinction conferred upon +me by the loveliest woman in Venice. + +"'Ah, Montalto!' she replied, with glowing cheeks, and a look of +enchanting tenderness, 'you know not the dreadful risk to which my +wish to become better acquainted with your merits exposes me. I am +watched with jealous and unceasing vigilance by an ambitious father, +whose sole object is the aggrandisement of his sons; and to the +accomplishment of this purpose he will not hesitate to sacrifice an +only and affectionate daughter. Destined to become the unwilling +bride of heartless opulence, or to the living sepulture of a convent, +and formed, by an affectionate mother, for every social and domestic +relation, there have been moments when I wished it had pleased Heaven +to cast my lot in free and humble mediocrity. My affections were then +unappropriated----' + +"She paused in blushing and beautiful embarrassment, but soon +resumed:--'It would be affectation to deny that they are no longer so. +I must have been more than woman to have remarked, without some +responsive feeling, the obvious regard----' Here she paused anew, the +rose of sweet confusion dyed her cheek more deeply than before, and +after a momentary struggle, she continued, with averted looks: 'The +heroic cast and expression of your features, and the unembarrassed +ease and elegance of your deportment, bore the genuine stamp of +nobility by descent and education. The instinctive discrimination +peculiar to woman is often more accurate in its conclusions than the +boasted experience of man. Appearances taught me to suspect, that your +homely garb and professional pursuit were a delusion; and I heard with +more pleasure than surprise that my conjecture was well-founded.' + +"Such, my Angelo! was the ingenuous and flattering avowal of the +transcendent Laura Foscari, the pride of Venice, and paragon of her +sex. No words can portray the boundless gratitude and affection with +which she inspired me; nor will I attempt to describe the enchanting +grace and varied intelligence of her conversation during the brief and +delightful hour I remained with her. Too soon the breezes which +announce the dawn shook the windows of the saloon; a luminous streak +bordered the eastern sky; and Laura, starting suddenly from her chair, +bade me begone. + +"Thus terminated my first interview with this high-minded and +incomparable woman. To-morrow, should no obstacle intervene, I will +resume my narrative, and, at the same time, impart to you some +particulars of my family and early life." + +We then returned to the villa, and separated for the night. + + +CHAPTER III. + +If the opening of Colonna's confession had excited surprise and +emotion, the incidents detailed in his interesting narrative were a +fertile source of anxiety and dismay. The veil of mystery was indeed +raised, but the scene disclosed was haunted by menacing appearances; +and I looked forward to the future with indescribable solicitude. The +vehemence of Colonna's passions was alarming, and his impetuosity +would too probably betray him into formidable peril. After mature +consideration, however, I determined to rest my hopes of a happy +termination to these difficulties upon his clear intellect, and his +noble and generous heart. I mentally renewed my vow of everlasting +friendship, and pledged myself to assist and defend him to the +uttermost, under all circumstances of difficulty and peril. + +On the following day we were surprised by an unwelcome visit from the +brothers and destined husband of Laura. She had previously accompanied +her mother more than once in a morning visit to our villa; but I had +never surmised sympathy, nor even acquaintance, between her and +Colonna, so skilfully did they preserve appearances. When he spoke of +her, it was invariably in the language of an artist. He admired the +rare and absolute symmetry of her face and form, in which she +surpassed every woman he had seen. He even remarked, with well-assumed +professional enthusiasm, how much it was to be regretted that her rank +and education precluded the possibility of her benefiting the arts as +a model. He deemed the proportions of her figure as admirable as those +of the Grecian Venus at Florence; and her head, arms, and hands as +greatly superior. On farther retrospection, I recollected to have +observed a richer glow on the cheek of Laura, whenever the lute of +Colonna vibrated from the villa-gardens; or, when his thrilling and +seductive voice sang some tender aria to the guitar. + +The younger Foscari was fascinated by the appearance and conversation +of Colonna, and expressed a wish to see his paintings. The party +proceeded to his saloon, and readily acknowledged his fine taste, and +evident promise of high excellence. Barozzo alone, a man of large +stature, of haughty deportment, and of a repulsive and sinister +aspect, assumed the critic; and betrayed, by his uncouth remarks, an +utter ignorance of fine art. Colonna, however, with admirable +self-possession, preserved the unassuming deportment of a young +artist, ambitious of patronage; spoke of the extreme difficulty of +attaining excellence in his profession, and gravely complimented +Barozzo upon the accuracy of his judgment. The haughty senator was +gratified and won by an admission so flattering to his pride; and +condescended to request that Colonna would paint the portraits of his +bride and himself. The young painter bit his lip as he bowed his +acknowledgments; but expressed his high sense of the honour conferred, +and his conviction that the portraits, if successful, would powerfully +recommend him to the nobles of Venice, and prove a certain avenue to +fame and fortune. It was agreed that, on an early day, Colonna should +proceed with the requisite materials to the villa Foscari, and +commence the portrait of Laura; after which, the cavaliers mounted +their horses, and returned home. + +To prevent a similar interruption on the succeeding day from any other +quarter, I agreed with Colonna to rise with the sun, and proceed over +the lake into the mountains, with provisions for the day. We met at +early dawn; and the birds were caroling their morning hymn, as, with +expanded sail, our bark bounded lightly across the lake. Ere long we +saw the god of day peeping with golden brow above the ridge of Monte +Baldo; then, majestically advancing over the mountains near Verona, +he poured a flood of bright and glowing beauty over the immense +landscape. The water was partially concealed by the vapours of +morning, and mists of purple hue floated like regal canopies above +the cliffs, while a light breeze, rippling the centre of the lake, +dispersed its tranquil slumber, and roused it into life and beauty. +The peninsula of Sirmio lay basking in sunny radiance before us; and +the mountains beyond displayed the grandeur of their immeasurable +outline, varied by prominent and rugged masses, which were piled up in +chaos like Ossa on Pelion. The eastern sky was robed in vapours of +rosy tint; light clouds of pearly lustre floated in tranquil beauty +through the heavens; and the Alpine eagles were careering in joyous +and sweeping circles amid the pure ether. + +Certainly the lake of Garda displays a rare combination of the +beautiful and sublime. The shores abound in the wild and majestic, +in variety and beauty of local tints, and picturesque vicissitudes +of light and shade; while the olive-crowned Sirmio, like the +island-realm of a Calypso, reposes in regal pride upon the waters, +and seems to hold in vassalage the opposite shores and amphitheatre +of mountains. + +There have been some days in my existence which will ever be dear to +my memory, and this was one of them. It was a cool and delicious +morning in the beginning of October; my senses were refreshed with +sleep; I was awake to the calm and holy influences of nature; and I +anticipated the promised narrative of Colonna's early life with a +lively interest, which imparted new zest to every feeling, and new +beauty to the glowing landscape. It was still early when we landed +under the cliff, and availed ourselves of the dewy freshness of the +morning to ascend a rugged path, which conducted us to a sequestered +grove of beech and chestnut. From a crevice in the base of a rock, +feathered with flowering creepers, issued a limpid spring, which, +after dispensing coolness and verdure to the grove, rolled onward +with mild and soothing murmurs to the lower levels. Plunging our +wine-flasks into the pure element where it burst into life from the +parent rock, we extended ourselves on the soft grass, and dismissed +our boatmen, with orders to return at sunset. I then reminded Colonna +of his promise to reveal to me some particulars of his early fortunes; +and after a pause, during which his features were slightly convulsed, +as if by painful recollections, he thus began: + +"I am the sole survivor of one of the most illustrious families in +Florence. My father was Leone di Montalto; and my mother was of the +persecuted and noble race of the Albizi. They are both deceased; and I +remain a solitary mourner, their first and only child. My mother died +the day after my birth, and my father grieved for her long and +sincerely; but the lapse of years, and frequent absences from Florence +in the naval service of the state, healed his wounded spirit; and in +an evil hour he became deeply enamoured of Isabella, third daughter of +Cosmo de' Medici, the tyrant of unhappy Florence. She was the wife of +Paul Orsini, the Roman, who, without any formal repudiation, had +abandoned her, and resided entirely in Rome. This extraordinary woman +was distinguished throughout Italy for personal beauty and rare +intellectual accomplishment. Her conversation not only sparkled with +wit, grace, and vivacity, but was full of knowledge and originality; +and her great natural powers had been so highly cultivated, that she +conversed with fluency in French, Spanish, and even in Latin. She +performed with skill on various instruments--sang like a Siren, and +was an admirable improvisatrice. Thus highly gifted and adorned by +nature and education, she was the idol of Cosmo, and ruled his +court like a presiding goddess. Her time and her affections being +unoccupied, she did not discourage the attentions of my father, who +was one of the most elegant and accomplished men of his time, and +blended the grace of a courtier with the free and gallant bearing of a +distinguished commander. The dormant sensibilities of Isabella were +soon awakened by the enthusiastic fervour of his attachment; and their +secret intelligence had subsisted some time, when it was discovered +by the jealous and vindictive Cosmo. My unfortunate parent was +immediately arrested and imprisoned, but effected his escape, fled to +Venice, and from thence to the Levant. His estates were confiscated +under the pretext of treasonable practices; and I found a refuge and a +home under the roof of my widowed aunt, Veronica Della Torre. + +"The heartless and meretricious Isabella relinquished my father +without a sigh, or a struggle to save him, and consoled herself with +court-pageantry, and a succession of new lovers, many of whom +were sacrificed by her cunning and ruthless father. As a selfish +voluptuary, and the destroyer of his country's liberty, Cosmo has +been compared with Augustus; but in gratuitous and deliberate cruelty, +he far surpasses his prototype. + +"I was indebted to neglect and accident for the best of all XXXX +educations. My father loved and cherished me; but his domestic +calamity, his frequent absences from Florence, and, subsequently, +his pursuit of Isabella, interfered with the customary course of +education, and saved me from the despotism of a regular tutor, and +from the debasing tyranny, the selfish and vulgar profligacy, of those +institutions of monkery called public academies. + +"It was surely the intention of Providence that the faculties of early +life should not be strained by labours hostile to the healthful growth +of mind and body, and that the heart, the senses, and the principles +should alone be tutored in the first ten years of life. And yet how +egregiously has the folly of the creature perverted the benevolent +purpose of the Creator! With thoughtless, heartless indifference he +commits his tender offspring to the crushing tyranny of pedants and +task-masters, who rack and stupify the imperfect brain by vain +attempts to convey dead languages through a dead medium, and inflict +upon their helpless pupils the occult mysteries of grammar, which +is the philosophy of language, and intelligible only to ripened +faculties. Ask the youth who has toiled in prostration of spirit +through the joyless years of school existence in the preparatory +seminaries of Italy--bid him look back upon his tedious pilgrimage, +and weigh the scanty knowledge he has won against the abundant +miseries he has endured from the harsh discipline of monkish tutors, +and the selfish brutality of senior class-fellows! His pride may +prompt him to deny, but in honesty and fairness he must admit, that +the established system of education is radically vicious; that his +attainments are meagre and superficial; that his knowledge of the +world is selfishness and cunning; and that, to rise above the herd of +slaves and dunces, he must give himself a second and widely different +education; more liberal, comprehensive, and practical. + +"It was my happier fate to enjoy, until the age of ten, unbounded +liberty. I associated with boys of my own age, selecting for frequent +intercourse those most distinguished by strength of body, resource of +mind, and a lofty and determined spirit. I disdained to be outdone in +feats of bodily activity, and persevered with inflexible ardour until +I surpassed all my competitors in running, wrestling, and swimming, +and in every species of juvenile and daring exploit. + +"From my aunt, who was an accomplished and high-minded woman, I +learned to read and write, and gained with ease and pleasure a more +than elementary knowledge of history; and when I had attained the age +of twelve, my father, who was an able and distinguished commander, +took me for three years on board his galley, in frequent cruises +against the Corsairs. These voyages had a powerful and salutary +influence upon my habits and character; the daily contemplation of the +world of waters expanded and exalted my imagination; while the +enlightened converse and daily instructions of my noble father, the +regular discipline observed on board the galley, and occasional +exposure to danger in tempests or in contact with an enemy, induced +energy and concentration of thought, decision and promptitude +in action, contempt of fatigue and hardship, and a degree of +self-possession which no common dangers could either daunt or +disconcert. + +"At the age of fifteen I returned to Florence, abandoned all boyish +pursuits, and commenced a more regular and elaborate course of +education. I had accumulated a store of ideas and associations which +enabled me to apply my faculties with facility to every desirable +attainment. The transition from material objects to the world of +spirits is natural and easy. I had already investigated with deep +interest the histories of Greece and Rome; I now studied with ardour +and success the languages of those high-minded nations; and, ere long, +perused with insatiable delight the pages of those master-spirits +whose glorious names blaze like constellations through the dark night +of antiquity. + +"My early and ruling passion for the liberal arts, and especially for +painting and architecture, induced me to seek the instructions of +Giorgio Vasari. As an artist he had never produced an original design, +but he was an able teacher; and, notwithstanding his prejudices, he +was unquestionably a man of refined taste and extensive knowledge. The +garrulous old painter was delighted with the glow of my enthusiasm, +and failed not to fan the flame with abundant encouragement. + +"My indulgent father was induced, by the exuberant praises of Vasari, +to permit my devotion of some hours daily to his instructions; but the +year before his imprisonment and flight, he took the precaution to +introduce me to a literary circle, eminent for clearness of intellect, +and a sound and liberal philosophy. Intercourse with men of this class +modified, in a considerable degree, my habits and opinions; but it +could not for a moment weaken my devotion to that sublime art which +has ennobled modern Italy, and raised it from prostration and contempt +to moral dignity and grandeur. + +"Several years elapsed after my father's escape, without bringing us +any intelligence of his fate. This mysterious silence was a source of +intense anxiety. Florence was hateful to me, and my impatience to +rejoin my beloved parent became at length too vehement to be +controlled any longer by the remonstrances of my aunt. I keenly felt +all the injustice exercised by the tyrannous and reckless Cosmo +against my family, and my departure was accelerated by the intimation +from a friend at court that my proceedings were watched by the secret +agents of the usurper, and that any unguarded expression of political +discontent, would be the signal of my incarceration, and, too +probably, of banishment or death. I quitted Florence unobserved, +changed my name, and proceeded to Venice, intending, while I pursued +my inquiries after my father, to study the works of Titian, and to +avail myself of the instructions of Tintorett and Paul Veronese. The +latter honoured me with his friendship, and the venerable Titian +encouraged me to visit him. I succeeded in my endeavours to cheer, +with poetry and music, the declining spirits of the benevolent old +man. He became attached to me, and finding that I had a painter's eye, +he imparted to me some invaluable secrets of his art, a compliment the +more gratifying and important, because it opened to me a source of +honourable and independent provision, in case my paternal estate +should never be restored to me. + +"Last autumn I received intelligence from Florence that my father had +entered the service of your republic on his arrival in the Levant, and +had received the appointment of captain in the garrison of Candia, +under General Malatesta, a Florentine, whose son had been assassinated +by order of Cosmo, on the discovery of an intrigue between this youth +and his eldest daughter, Maria de' Medici. Nor did the hapless female +escape the vengeance of her cruel parent. Her death was premature, and +attended with circumstances which amounted to the clearest evidence +that she was poisoned by her monstrous and unnatural parent. I had +completed my preparations for departure, and waited only a change +of wind to sail for Candia, when I received from my aunt the +heart-rending communication that my father had shared the fate of +young Malatesta, and been assassinated some years since, at the +instigation of the ferocious Cosmo. This intelligence fell upon +my soul like a thunderbolt. The wound which my beloved father's +disappearance had inflicted on my happiness opened anew, and my +lacerated heart bled at every core. I vowed implacable hatred and +deadly vengeance against the prime mover and every subordinate agent +in this atrocious murder of my noble parent. He was a great and +admirable man, and I shall never cease to venerate his memory, and +lament his untimely death. For many months, life was an intolerable +burden to me, and I endured existence only in the hope of avenging +him. The cruel instigator, Cosmo, was, alas! equally beyond the reach +of my personal defiance and of my dagger. Hedged round by guards and +minions, and compelled by his infirmities to seclude himself within +the recesses of his palace, every attempt to approach him would have +been vain, and my youthful and unenjoyed existence would have been +sacrificed without an equivalent. Nor have I yet been able to trace +the agents of his bloody will; but my investigations have been +vigilant and unceasing, and revenge, although delayed, is ripening +over their heads." + +Here the noble youth was checked in his narrative by a sudden burst of +agony, which defied all disguise and control. Tears rolled in rapid +succession down his cheeks, and his manly chest heaved with the +audible sobs of bitter and deeply-seated anguish. Springing hastily +from the turf, he threw himself on the margin of the stream, and +immersed his face in its pure waters, to cool the fever of his burning +cheeks. Surely there is no sorrow like the sorrow of a resolute and +high-minded man. The sobs of woman in affliction awake our tenderest +sympathies, but they do not shake our souls like the audible anguish +of man. To see the iron frame of such a being as Colonna heaving with +loud and convulsive agony, was so truly appalling, that no time will +erase the deep impression from my memory. + +I respected his grief too much to interrupt it by premature attempts +at consolation; but when he arose, I embraced him in silent sympathy, +and endeavoured to direct the current of his thoughts from the bitter +past to a brighter future. I spoke of the advanced age and broken +constitution of the licentious Cosmo, and inferred, from the mild +and amiable character of his son, a speedy restoration to rank and +property. I dwelt upon his own pre-eminence in strength of mind, and +in every natural and acquired advantage; and I predicted that, in +defiance of adverse circumstances, he would, by his own unassisted +efforts, accomplish a high and brilliant destiny. I proposed to obtain +for him, through my father's influence, a naval command in the service +of Venice, or a powerful recommendation to the valiant Genoese, +Giovanni Doria. + +He thanked me, with a look full of eloquent meaning, but made no +comment on my proposal. After a brief pause, he subdued his emotion, +and exclaimed, with a melancholy smile,--"Happy Venetians and Genoese! +_Your_ liberties have not been basely destroyed by an individual +family, as those of Tuscany by the Medici. Your glorious republics +adorn the east and west of Italy with splendid achievements, while +Florence, once the pride and glory of our country, lies prostrate in +mourning and in slavery, betrayed and manacled by her unnatural sons!" + +I availed myself of this apostrophe to make some comments upon the +history of these distinguished republics, and insensibly drew Colonna +into a discussion which was prolonged until the increasing heat made +us sensible of the want of refreshment. The sun had reached the +meridian, and the centre of the lake below, still fretted by the +mountain breeze, was seething and glittering in the sunbeams, like a +huge cauldron of melted silver, while the smooth and crystal surface +near its shores reflected, like a mirror, projecting and receding +cliffs of every form and elevation, crowned with venerable trees, +and fringed with gay varieties of vegetable ornament. The timid +and transparent lizards darted playfully around us, and golden +beetles buzzed on heavy wings in the foliage above, while the light +grasshoppers chirped their multitudinous chorus of delight, and +myriads of gay and glittering insects held their jubilee in the +burning atmosphere. Amidst this universal carnival of nature, we +reclined in deep shade, soothed by the tinkling music of the stream, +and enjoying the dewy freshness which exhaled from its translucent +waters. The inspiring juice of the Cyprus grape, and a light repast, +rapidly recruited the strength and spirits of Colonna. Bounding +vigorously from the green turf, he gazed with delight through the +aged stems upon the bright landscape, and exclaimed, with glowing +enthusiasm,--"All-bounteous Providence! Creator of the glorious sun +and teeming earth! how supremely blest were thy creatures, did they +not embitter so much good by crime and folly!" + +After a brief pause of rapturous contemplation, we resumed our +wine-flasks, our cheerfulness rose into exhilaration, and we reposed +like sylvan deities in the green shade, enjoying the elasticity and +freshness of youthful existence, forgetful of the past and regardless +of the future. But this daydream was too delightful to last. I +recollected that I had not heard the sequel of Colonna's adventures +in Venice, and I broke the spell by whispering in his ear the name of +"Laura." + +"Alas!" he replied, with visible emotion, "I fear this incomparable +woman will never be mine, unless miracle or magic should interpose to +vanquish the many obstacles to our union. Our interviews in Venice +were attended with such imminent hazard of discovery, as to render +them brief and of rare occurrence. My adored Laura was in the morning +of life, and with the creative imagination of early youth, she +cherished sanguine hopes that the death of the infirm Cosmo would, ere +long, enable me to resume rank and property, and to demand her openly +of her father. Until then, my resources were merely adequate to my +personal support, being limited to a small maternal estate, left under +the friendly guardianship of my aunt. + +"Nevertheless, plans of elopement were frequently discussed, and I +vehemently urged her to become mine, and to accompany me to Greece, +from whence, after I had accomplished a momentous object, we could +embark for Marseilles, and proceed to Paris, where my skill as a +painter, in addition to my maternal estate, would preserve us from +indigence. As she did not peremptorily forbid me to expect her consent +to this scheme, I ventured to build upon it; but when my preparations +for flight were completed, her resolution failed, and I discovered, in +the deeply-rooted attachment of Laura to her mother, an insuperable +obstacle to the accomplishment of my purpose. For this kind and +indulgent parent her affection was all but idolatrous; and when she +told me, with tearful eyes and throbbing bosom, that her beloved +mother was in precarious health, that she was entirely dependent on +her only daughter for earthly happiness, and that the loss of that +daughter would destroy her, I must have been dead to every generous +and disinterested feeling had I not complied with her earnest +entreaty, that we should await a more favourable course of events. + +"Meanwhile the distinguished beauty and numberless graces of Laura +attracted many suitors. Some of these were not ineligible, and one of +them especially, young Contarini--whose passion for her was ardent, +almost to frenzy--was a man of noble qualities, of prepossessing +exterior, and of equal rank, but, as you well know, too moderately +endowed with the gifts of fortune. Every proposal was, however, +promptly rejected by the ambitious Foscari, who, like a cold and +calculating trader, measured the merits of each suitor by the extent +of his possessions. At length, after the conclusion of the war with +Turkey in the spring, arrived from Greece the governor of Candia, +Ercole Barozzo, whose splendid establishment and lavish expenditure +attracted universal attention. His originally large possessions had +been swelled into princely opulence by clandestine traffic with the +enemy, and by every species of cruelty and exaction. His wife and two +infant sons had fallen victims to the plague in the Levant; and being +desirous of children to inherit his vast possessions, he surveyed +the fair daughters of Venice, and was quickly fascinated by the +superlative beauty of Laura Foscari, who shone unrivalled in a city +distinguished for the beauty of the softer sex. Barozzo was not a +suitor to be rejected by her sordid father; and, without any appeal to +his daughter's inclinations, her hand was promised to a man of more +than twice her age, forbidding in his exterior, coarse and revolting +in his manners, and utterly destitute of redeeming qualities. I had +determined, before my acquaintance with you commenced, to make +occasional visits during the summer to Peschiera, and I hesitated to +accept your proposal, from an apprehension that it would impede my +interviews with Laura. On farther consideration, however, I perceived +that my abode under your roof would not be incompatible with nocturnal +visits to the Villa Foscari, and I became your guest. My interviews +with Laura have been more frequent in this quiet and rural district, +than in the narrow streets and numerous obstacles of Venice. The +wide extent of her father's garden enables me to scale the wall +unperceived, and to reach a garden saloon communicating by a covered +trellice walk with the villa. Laura's abhorrence of the presuming and +insolent Barozzo has proved a powerful auxiliary to my renewed +entreaties that she would fly with me from the miseries which menace +her, and I have recently succeeded in obtaining her reluctant consent +to accompany me to Genoa, and from thence to Greece. A fortnight hence +is appointed for the celebration of her marriage to the wretch who +basely wooes her, with a consciousness of her unqualified antipathy to +his person and character. If the strong attachment of Laura to her +mother does not again baffle my hopes, we shall effect our escape +three days before the one appointed for her marriage with Barozzo; but +I can discern too well, through her invincible dejection, that she is +still balancing the dreadful alternatives of a marriage abhorrent to +her feelings, and the abandonment of her mother." + +Such was the tale of Colonna's brief, but trying and calamitous +career. Deeply as I lamented his approaching departure, I felt too +much interested in his success to withhold my active co-operation, and +I pledged myself to promote his views as far as I could, without +openly compromising myself with the Foscari family; but I entreated +him to relinquish his design of painting the portraits of Laura +and Barozzo, from an apprehension that a lover so fervent and +demonstrative would, in some unguarded moment, excite suspicion, and +frustrate the accomplishment of his ultimate views. He thanked me for +the ready zeal with which I had entered into his feelings, and assured +me that he had no intention of proceeding beyond the outlines of the +governor's portrait; but that, as a lover and an artist, he could not +deny himself the gratification of portraying the matchless form and +features of the woman he adored. + +The day was declining when we quitted our cool retreat to ascend the +mountain behind us, and inhale the pure breezes which played around +its summit. We gazed with long and lingering delight upon the bright +landscapes of Lombardy, as they glowed beneath us in the parting +sunbeams, and the shades of night were fast falling around us when we +crossed the lake on our return to the villa. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Early on the following morning, the younger brother of Laura called to +request the promised attendance of Colonna at the Villa Foscari, and I +determined to accompany him, hoping, by my presence, to remind the +young painter of the necessity of exercising a vigilant control over +his feelings. The precaution was, however, unnecessary. He sustained, +with singular self-mastery, the demeanour of an artist and a stranger; +and appeared, while sketching the form and features of his lovely +mistress, to have no other object than to seize the most important and +characteristic peculiarities of his model. He requested that she would +occasionally walk round the saloon, and freely indulge in familiar +converse with her friends, as if no artist were present. His object +was, he added, to accomplish, not a tame and lifeless copy, but a +portrait, stamped with those peculiar attributes and graces which are +best elicited by a free and unconstrained movement of limb and +feature. + +Thus admirably did he mask the lover, and assume the look and language +of an artist ambitious to recommend himself to opulent employers. + +The sensitive and unhappy Laura had less command over her feelings, +and I could occasionally observe a furtive glance beaming from her +dark and humid eye upon the elegant painter; but when she addressed +him, it was with the air and language of condescension to one whose +services might be purchased; thus endeavouring to disguise the strong +and almost irrepressible emotion which quivered beneath the surface. + +Her mother never quitted her during the sitting; Barozzo and the +Foscari visited the saloon occasionally; and I remained to control +the lover, and, at the same time, to improve myself by observing +the artist. The fine lineaments of Laura were too deeply engraven on +the heart of Colonna to render frequent sittings essential; and, +in compliance with my remonstrances, he abridged them as much as +possible. After the second sitting he told her that he should not +again require her presence until he had completed the portrait, when +some finishing detail might be requisite. He devoted a large portion +of the five following days to a task so soothing to his feelings; and, +on the morning of the sixth day, astonished the assembled family by +producing a highly-finished and admirable resemblance. + +The charming subject of his portrait was painted the size of life, +and attired in a light morning robe of green silk. The full and +elegant symmetry of her form was indicated through the graceful folds, +which fell around her like the richest sculpture. She stood in a +contemplative attitude, leaning, like some heavenly muse, upon a +golden tripod of chaste and classical design. High intelligence +adorned with its imperishable beauty her fair and lofty forehead. Her +large dark eyes, which beamed through their long fringes with soft and +melting lustre, were gazing as if into futurity, and their tender and +eloquent expression went to the soul of the observer. The finely +moulded oval of her cheek glowed with the roseate hues of life, and +the pearly lustre of the neck and arms was surpassed only by the +clear and brilliant fairness of the lovely original, while in the +beautifully curved lips, Colonna had introduced a slight compression, +indicative of that heroic firmness in the character of Laura, which +had not escaped his penetration, but did not, until a later period, +fully develop itself. + +The scene was a garden saloon, and through an open window an extensive +view over the lake of Garda arrested with magic power the eye of every +beholder. Sirmio appeared like a woody island in the middle distance, +and beyond the lake rose an amphitheatre of mountains, surmounted by +the distant summits of the Tyrolese Alps. There was in this admirable +portrait all the charm and witchery of life. It possessed much of +the dignity, and ease, and harmonious colouring of Titian; and the +exquisite blending and management of the tints betrayed the favourite +pupil of Paul Veronese, whom indeed he surpassed in the natural +folding and classical distribution of draperies, and fully equalled in +the force of light and shade, which makes the portraits of that able +master appear to stand out from the canvass. + +The next day was devoted to the finishing of some details in the +portrait of Laura; and on the succeeding morning I accompanied Colonna +to the apartment of Barozzo, who was desirous that his portrait should +be completed before his marriage. The artist fixed upon the haughty +governor that firm gaze of his dark and piercing eye, and proceeded to +pencil the outlines of his stern and massive features. After the lapse +of a few minutes, he remarked to Barozzo, that he had never seen a +countenance, the character of which he found so difficult to trace to +its primitive elements. "The lineaments of mature age," he continued, +"are hard and inflexible, and when the eloquent play and pliancy of +youthful feelings have left the features, it is impossible, without +frequent intercourse, to detect the peculiarities and secret recesses +of character with sufficient accuracy to give force and truth to a +portrait." He conceived that to accomplish the perfect delineation of +a man of middle age and of distinguished rank, a painter should not +only share his society, but know the history of his life, and study +the lights and shades of his character. It was thus that Raffaelle +succeeded in conveying to the portraits of Julius II., Leo X., and +their Cardinals, such intellectual dignity, such truth and grandeur of +expression. He doubted, nevertheless, whether any artist could achieve +a perfect portrait of a man of high station if he did not rise above +his employer, not only in imaginative power, but in strength of mind +and penetration into character. + +The riveted and searching looks, which from time to time accompanied +this singular and equivocal strain of compliment, appeared greatly to +perplex and annoy the haughty Barozzo. His tawny visage was dyed with +the dusky red of some strong inward emotion, which I was eager but +unable to interpret. This suffusion was soon succeeded by an ashy +paleness, and suddenly he quitted his chair and walked to the window. + +During this ominous and unaccountable interruption, I gave Colonna a +warning glance. He composed his excited features into tranquillity; +and after a long pause, of which I endeavoured to disguise the +embarrassment by some comments on the Venetian school of painting, +Barozzo returned from the window and resumed his seat. Colonna seized +his pencil, and proceeded to sketch the outline of the governor's +figure, during which process I observed in his looks nothing beyond +the earnest gaze of a portrait-painter. For some time Barozzo avoided +the encounter; but at length, as if controlled by some secret and +irresistible fascination, his eyes again met those of the young +artist. The effect of this collision was mysterious and startling. The +brilliant orbs of Colonna gradually assumed a stern and indignant +expression, and darted their searching beams upon the governor, as if +to pierce the inmost recesses of his soul. The dull grey eyes of the +again agitated Barozzo quailed and fell under this intolerable +scrutiny; his sallow visage was suffused with a ghastly yellow; again +he glanced in terror at the artist, and then half rose from his chair +in undisguised consternation. Controlling, however, with sudden effort +his agitation, he resumed his seat, and, with averted looks and +seeming indifference, inquired if Colonna had resided long in Venice. +The painter filled his brush, and answered carelessly, that he had +lived there a few months. + +"Your accent is Tuscan," continued Barozzo. "Are you a native of +Florence?" + +"I am," replied the painter, seemingly intent upon his employment. + +"Do your parents reside there?" resumed the other, with rising +emphasis. + +"Parents!" exclaimed Colonna, with a keen glance at the inquisitive +governor; "I have none! They are dead!" + +"Who and what was your father?" demanded Barozzo imperiously. + +This inquiry and its peremptory tone exhausted the patience of +Colonna. Dashing the paint out of his brush, he fixed a look of +startling fierceness on Barozzo, and answered, with marked and bitter +emphasis,--"He was a sword-cutler, and made excellent blades." + +At this critical moment Laura entered the room with her mother to +observe the progress of Barozzo's portrait. Casting a hasty glance at +the imperfect sketch, she remarked that it did not at all realise her +expectations. The painter replied, that he should have succeeded +better if he had enjoyed the honour of a longer acquaintance with the +governor. "It is immaterial," exclaimed Barozzo, who had fully +regained his self-possession. "We shall ere long become better known +to each other, and you may finish my portrait at Venice in the course +of the ensuing winter." + +"As your excellency pleases," replied Colonna, and removed the canvass +from the easel. The ladies now quitted the saloon with the governor; +and, soon as the door was closed, the artist defaced the ill-fated +portrait with a blow of his fist, packed up his drawing materials for +removal, and accompanied me home. + +Conceiving that the portentous agitation of Barozzo had grown out of +some incipient feelings of jealousy and suspicion, I remonstrated with +Colonna, during our walk, on the gratuitous imprudence of his +deportment, and pointed out the personal danger he had incurred by +thus taunting a man so powerful and irritable as the governor of +Candia. I urged him to accelerate his flight, and, meanwhile, never to +leave the villa unarmed. + +In reply, however, he expressed his conviction that the sudden change +of countenance and colour in Barozzo did not originate in jealousy, +and that a man so imperious and overbearing would have betrayed this +spirit-stirring passion in a manner widely different. "No, Pisani!" he +continued, in a voice quivering with emotion; "my suspicions go +farther. The springs of this man's actions lie deep, and a prophetic +spirit tells me that he is not innocent of my noble father's murder. +Until this morning, he deigned not to bestow more than a superficial +glance upon the features of an obscure artist in homely apparel, but +when our eyes met, in keen and unavoidable collision, the resemblance +I bear to my deceased parent flashed upon his guilty soul; and from +his sudden and uncontrollable emotion, I cannot but infer his +participation in the crimes of Cosmo. Inference, you will say, is no +proof; but it gives me a clue which I will track until I reach +conviction. It is the intention of Laura, who cannot resolve to quit +her mother, to retard for a considerable period the celebration of her +marriage, by feigned paroxysms of indisposition. I will avail myself +of this delay to bring home to Barozzo the evidence of his guilt, and +defy him to mortal combat; or, should he shrink from it, I will treat +him as a savage and noxious animal, and hunt him to death." + +I could not but admit that there was some ground for the suspicions of +Colonna; but, from an apprehension of rousing his whirlwind passions +into premature activity, I concealed from him my knowledge that, +before the departure of Barozzo for Candia, he had passed some +weeks at Florence, where his congenial disposition had powerfully +recommended him to the good graces of Cosmo. They were in habits +of daily intercourse, and Barozzo was not the man who would, from +honourable feeling, decline to forward the murderous views of the +implacable ruler of Tuscany. + +From this eventful day Colonna was an altered man. Revenge became the +ruling passion of his soul; and while he awaited with gnawing +impatience the long-expected letters from his friends in Florence and +Candia, he seemed to find no relief from the feverish rage which fired +his blood, and wasted his fine form, but in the bodily fatigue of +daily and nightly rambles in the mountains. + +It was the design of Laura to assume the appearance of sudden and +violent illness on the day before her intended marriage, and to +sustain the deception, by occasional relapses, for months, or even +years, should the governor's patience endure so long. But the +probability was, that a man, advancing towards the autumn of life, and +determined to marry, would rather recede from his engagement and seek +another mate, than run the risk of such indefinite delay. The spirit +and address of Laura Foscari were fully equal to the deep game she had +determined to play. She purposed to assist the deception by staining +her fair face with an artificial and sickly hue; and she found an +effective auxiliary in her mother, who thought the brutal Barozzo +utterly unworthy to win and wear so bright a jewel as her angelic +daughter. These expedients were, however, rendered unnecessary by the +bloody catastrophes which were now at hand. + +Three days before the appointed celebration of the marriage, I was +reading, near midnight, in my chamber, when Colonna entered, with +vehement and hasty strides. His large eyes glittered with terrific +energy; his forehead streamed with perspiration; his dress and hair +were in wild disorder, and his hands were dyed with blood. He said not +a word, but paced the apartment for some time with rapidity. His +deportment was that of a man whose rage had risen above his control, +and overwhelmed all power of articulation. I awaited in silent and +wondering sympathy the termination of emotions so tempestuous. At +length, seating himself opposite to me, he struck the table vehemently +with his clenched hand, and after some vain attempts to speak, +exclaimed, in hoarse and hurried tones, which gave an appalling force +to his expressions--"Pisani! all doubt is at an end--I have this night +obtained conclusive evidence of Barozzo's guilt. I have sworn to +avenge my noble father's wrongs in the traitor's blood--and to-morrow +he must face me in fair combat, or feel my dagger in his craven heart. +The alternative will hinge upon your friendly agency--but of that +hereafter.--About three hours since I reached the heights beyond the +lake. Exhausted with a long and toilsome ramble, I threw myself +beneath our favourite beech, and was soon lulled by the rippling +waters into brief and agitated slumber. My sleep was haunted by a +succession of fearful forms and painful incidents, which at length +assumed a shape distinctly and horribly significant. Methought I lay +upon the summit of a cliff, close to the sloping brink, and gazed into +a gulf too deep and dark for human eye to fathom. Suddenly the immense +void was illumined by sheets of vivid lightning--a monstrous peal of +thunder broke upon my ear--and a colossal form, lengthened and scaly +as a serpent, rose like the demon of the storm, approached the edge of +the precipice, and brought his horrid visage to the level of mine. +Again the lightning flashed, and I distinguished the assassin features +of Barozzo, expanded into horrible and revolting magnitude. Eyes, +lurid and menacing as meteors, glared upon me with a malignant scowl, +and huge lips, parted in a fiendish grin, disclosed an array of fangs, +pointed and glittering as poniards. He extended two gaunt and bony +hands, stained, methought, with my father's blood, and tried to seize +and drag me into the gulf. While writhing to escape the monster's +grasp the thunder again rolled through the abyss; the cliff beneath me +reeled from its foundations, the brink began to crumble, and my +destruction appeared inevitable--when, suddenly, the strains of sweet +and solemn music floated round me--the demon vanished, and I beheld +the pale phantom of my murdered father, extending towards me his +protecting arms. At this moment of intense excitement, the spell which +bound me was dissolved--I awoke, and saw by the brilliant moonlight a +tall figure, enveloped in a mantle, approaching me in stealthy +silence. Gazing more intently, I discovered a dagger in his grasp. In +an instant I was on my feet--the figure rushed forward, but ere he +could reach me, I stood behind the tree, and thus gained time to level +a pistol at his head. Seeing me thus prepared, the villain retreated +hastily, but escaped not the bullet, which my unerring weapon buried +in his back. He reeled and fell; and his life-blood was ebbing fast, +when I stooped to examine his features. Raising the slouched hat which +concealed his face, I immediately recognised a handsome Greek, +attached to the retinue of Barozzo. I had occasionally seen this man +in a tavern at Peschiera. His demeanour was fierce and repulsive, but +my eagerness to learn some particulars of my father's untimely death +in Candia prompted me to cultivate his acquaintance, and I played with +him the game of Morra, forgave his losses, and paid for his wine. +Whether the remembrance of this kindness excited his compunction, or +whether he wished to atone for his past offences, I know not, but he +thus addressed me in broken accents: + +"'Son of Montalto! a just retribution has overtaken me. My necessities +sold me to the savage Barozzo. _He_ hired the dagger which pierced thy +noble father, and the same weapon would have destroyed thee had not +thy better fortune interposed. Listen to the counsel of a dying man. +Beware of Barozzo! He has a long grasp, and will not spare thy young +life. Fly, without delay, or thy destruction is inevitable!' + +"Here his voice failed him; a convulsive tremor shook his frame; he +became motionless, and apparently lifeless. But Greeks are cunning to +a proverb, and as it was of vital moment to conceal from the governor +the failure of his murderous design, I struck the assassin's dagger +deep into his heart, and rolled him down the slope of a contiguous +ravine. I now recollected that Barozzo had twenty Greek bloodhounds +carousing in the taverns of Peschiera, and thinking it too probable +that he had commissioned more than one of them to hunt me down, I +crossed the lake, to devise with you the means to detach this demon +from his myrmidons, and force him into single combat. I have bound +myself, by all that is most sacred, to destroy him, or to perish in +the attempt; and should no fair and open avenue to vengeance offer, I +will stab him at Foscari's table, or even rend him limb from limb at +Laura's feet. And now, my Angelo! I conjure you by our bond of +friendship, by every generous feeling in your nature, to lend me that +aid, without which I shall be driven to the desperate and ignoble +alternative of assassination. You know well that it would be in vain +to summon the governor of Candia to a personal encounter. He is a +veteran soldier of established reputation, and he knows that he need +not fight to maintain it; nor will a man who has reached the summit +of opulence and distinction descend from his vantage-ground, and risk +the loss of so much earthly good in mortal combat with the proscribed +and desperate son of Montalto." + +To this tale of visionary and real horrors, heightened and dramatised +by the indignant eloquence of Colonna, I listened with intense +interest, and my abhorrence of the monstrous cruelty of Barozzo +swelled into active sympathy and a firm resolve to second, at all +hazards, the just vengeance of this noble and deeply-injured youth. I +felt also the necessity of immediate interference to save his life. +The governor was evidently fearful of the retribution so justly due to +his unparalleled atrocity, and he had, moreover, been galled to the +quick by the taunting deportment of the young artist while sitting for +his portrait. He would soon suspect the failure of his first attempt +upon the life of Colonna, and would inevitably follow up his base +design by employing the numerous daggers in his pay. The hatred of the +young Florentine was deadly and implacable, and his determination to +sacrifice this mortal foe of his family spurned all control, and raged +like a tempest; but his impetuosity would prevent the accomplishment +of his object, and too probably betray him into the toils of his cool +and crafty enemy, who never quitted the Villa Foscari without one or +more well-armed attendants. From an affectation, too, of military +display, or probably from a consciousness that he had many personal +enemies, the governor wore at all times a corselet of scaled armour, +composed of the light, well-tempered Spanish steel, which resists the +point of sword or dagger. Had I wished to save the life of this +lawless pander to the cruelty of Cosmo, I saw no expedient which +would not expose my valued friend to imminent and deadly peril; and +could I for a moment hesitate between the chivalrous, the princely +Colonna, so unrivalled in form and feature, so elevated and pure in +sentiment, so eminently fitted, by his high intelligence, his glowing +diction, and his kindling, all-impelling energies, to rouse a better, +higher, nobler spirit, in all who came within the sphere of his +activity--could I pause an instant between this first of nature's +nobles and the base Barozzo, who, inaccessible to pity, and fortified +against all compunction by years of crime, had, unprovoked, and with +the malice of a demon, destroyed the best and bravest of the sons of +Florence? + +With prompt and ardent enthusiasm, I assured him of my devotion to +his cause, and unfolded to him a stratagem, which my knowledge +of the surrounding country, and of the habits of Barozzo, had +readily suggested. During the frequent absence of Colonna, I had +occasionally joined the governor in his equestrian excursions, and, +from neighbourly feeling to the senator Foscari, had escorted his +guest to the most picturesque scenery of this romantic district. His +rides were daily, and at the same hour. I proposed to join him as +usual, and to lead him into a narrow and unfrequented defile in the +mountains, which rise from the lake about three leagues from Peschiera. +Colonna might there await and force him into personal encounter, while +I would act as umpire, and prevent any interference from the Greek +escort of the wary chieftain. At this proposal Colonna eagerly +approached, and embraced me with grateful rapture. His dark eye +kindled with its wonted fire; his pallid cheeks were flushed; the +settled gloom, which had so long clouded his fine features, vanished +like mists before the sun, and was succeeded by a radiant and exulting +energy, eloquently expressive of his conviction that the hope on which +he had lived so long--the hope of just revenge--would now be realised. + +I urged him to seek, in immediate repose, the restoration of his +exhausted strength, and undertook to provide him with a managed horse, +armour, and weapons, which should place him upon a level with his +mailed and well-mounted antagonist. Horse and armour, however, he +promptly declined. He would find an expedient, he said, to compel +Barozzo to fight him foot to foot, and he pledged himself to find a +way with a good weapon through the scaly corselet of his serpent foe. +He requested only a straight two-edged sword, of well-tried temper; +and a woodman's axe, the purpose of which he did not explain. He then +left me, to plunge into the lake, and to find in its pure and bracing +waters that refreshment which, he said, it would be a vain attempt +to obtain in sleep, while I proceeded to my father's armoury, and +selected from the numerous weapons which adorned it, a long and +powerful two-edged blade, which he had brought from the Levant. This +sword was black from hilt to point, and destitute of ornament, except +some golden hieroglyphics near the guard; but I knew that it had stood +the brunt of several stirring campaigns, without material injury to +its admirable edge and temper. + +After a short and unrefreshing slumber, I arose with the sun, and +hastened, with the sword and woodman's axe, to the saloon of Colonna. +His garb was usually plain, almost to homeliness, and chosen probably +with a view to the better concealment of his rank; but for this day of +vengeance he had donned the princely costume of the Tuscan nobles. A +rich vest of embroidered scarlet, and pantaloons of woven silk, were +closely fitted to his noble person, which, I have said before, was +fashioned in the choicest mould of manly beauty, and now, so worthily +adorned, displayed in all its high perfection that faultless union of +symmetry and strength, so rarely seen in life; equalling, indeed, the +Vatican Antinous in classic elegance of form, but far surpassing that +fine statue in stature and heroic character of look and bearing. A +mantle of the richest velvet hung from his well-formed shoulders, +while a nodding plume adorned his Spanish hat and shaded his dark +eyes, which lighted up as they beheld me with bright and eager flashes +of impatience. + +"Thou art indeed the 'pearl and pride of Florence,' my Colonna!" I +exclaimed, in irrepressible admiration, applying, as I approached him, +the poetical simile of his Laura. + +Regardless of the compliment, he grasped the unpretending weapon I +held out to him, and plucked it from the scabbard. Tracing at a glance +its Oriental pedigree, he doubled the strong blade with ease, until +the point touched and rebounded from the guard, and then severed with +its unyielding edge an iron nail projecting from the wall. "This plain +old weapon," said he, with an exulting smile, "is worth a dukedom. +'Twill pierce a panoply of Milan steel, and I pledge myself to make it +search the vitals of this ruffian governor. But these are words, +Pisani; and words, the Roman proverb says, are feminine, while deeds +alone are masculine. Farewell, then, till we meet in the defile. It is +essential to my purpose that I reach the ground some hours before +Barozzo." + +He then embraced me cordially, concealed the axe beneath his mantle, +and departed for the mountains, intending to cross the lake to a point +not distant from the scene of action. At an early hour I mounted +my horse, and rode towards the Villa Foscari. In the vicinity of +Peschiera I descried the governor proceeding on his daily morning +excursion to the mountains. I had hitherto rarely seen him with +more than one attendant, but he was now closely followed by two +well-mounted Greeks of lofty stature, attired in the gorgeous costume +of the Levant, and armed with scimitar and dagger. The square and +athletic person of their chief was arrayed in the splendid garb of a +military commander of distinguished rank. His ample chest was covered +with a corselet of light scale-armour, which yielded to every motion +of his frame, and was partially concealed by a broad sash, and a +capacious velvet mantle. A sword of unusual length hung from his belt, +whence also projected the handle of a poniard, which blazed with +jewels of great lustre and value. At the age of forty-two, Barozzo was +still in the full vigour of manhood; and the martial ease and energy +of his movements indicated that he would find full occupation for the +quick eye and unrivalled skill of the comparatively unarmed Colonna. + +The governor saluted me as usual, and after some remarks upon the +beauty of the surrounding scenery, he carelessly inquired where my +friend the painter was. I replied, that he was gone up the lake in his +bark, and described him as an itinerant personage, who delighted in +ranging over the Brescian mountains, where he passed a considerable +portion of his time in sketching, and was but an occasional inmate +of my father's villa. The governor made no comment, and resumed +his observations on the wild mountain scenery to which we were +approaching. I inquired if he had yet discovered in his rides a defile +of singular and romantic beauty, the avenue to which, from the +main-road, was concealed by a grove of beech. He replied in the +negative, and assented to my proposal that we should explore it. A +ride of two hours brought us to the secluded entrance of this +picturesque ravine, and we descended into its deep and silent +recesses. The road was stony, rugged, and unfrequented; and, except at +intervals, admitted only two horsemen abreast. The mountains on each +side rose with bold abruptness, and their mossy surfaces were dotted +with perennial oaks and lofty beeches, which threw their arched and +interwoven branches across the chasm, and intercepted agreeably the +glare and heat of the morning sun. We had proceeded about a league +along this still and dusky hollow, when we distinguished the sound of +a woodman's axe, and the sharp report of its echo from the opposite +cliffs. We soon reached the spot above which the labourer was +employed; but the profusion of foliage and underwood entirely screened +the person of the woodman, whose axe continued to descend with +unabated energy. We had advanced about a hundred paces beyond this +point, when our course was arrested by a groaning and mighty crash, +succeeded by a stunning shock, which shook the ravine like an +earthquake, and was re-echoed in deep, long mutterings by the adjacent +rocks. Tranquillising our startled coursers, we looked around and +beheld a colossal beech, lying in the narrow pathway, which it filled +up like a rampart. The Greeks, who had loitered to discern, if +possible, the person of the vigorous woodman, were intercepted by the +fallen giant of the mountain, but had escaped injury, as we could +perceive them in their saddles through the foliage. + +Startled by the ominous appearance of this incident, the governor +immediately rode back, and bade his attendants dismount and lead their +horses over a sheep-path which rose on the mountain slope, above the +level of the fallen tree, while he would ride on slowly until they +rejoined him. Execrating the peasant who had thus annoyed him, he +turned his courser's head, and we proceeded at a slow pace to the +now contiguous spot which I had described to Colonna as best suited +to his purpose. Here the base of an enormous cliff projected like a +rampart into the defile, and sloped abruptly into two right angles, +connected by a level line of nearly perpendicular rock, which rose +in castellated grandeur to a towering height. The numerous crevices +and hollows were fringed with dazzling heath-flowers and luxuriant +creepers, between which the bare black surface of the rock frowned on +the passing gazer like the ruined stronghold of some mountain robber. +We now turned the first angle of the cliff, looking upward as we rode +at the majestic front of this singular work of nature. Still gazing, +we had proceeded about fifty paces, and the governor was remarking, +that the level and lofty summit would make a commanding military +station, when suddenly our coursers halted, and looking down we saw +before us the tall and kingly figure of Colonna, standing like an +apparition in the pathway. His right hand rested on his unsheathed +sword, and his attitude was that of careless and assured composure; +but in his gathered brow, and in the boding glitter of his eye, I +could discern the deadly purpose of the forest lion, about to spring +upon his prey, and fully confident in his own powers and resources. At +this sudden encounter of Montalto's son, who seemed to start with +spectral abruptness from the ground beneath us, Barozzo shook in his +saddle as if he had seen an accusing spirit. For a moment the blood +left his face, his breath shortened, and his chest heaved with strong +internal emotion, but his iron features soon regained their wonted +character of intrepidity. He then darted upon me a keen look of +inquiry and suspicion; before, however, he had time to speak, Colonna +was upon him. Rapidly advancing, he seized the bridle of his horse, +and thus addressed him:--"Barozzo! the measure of thy crimes is full, +and retribution is at hand! Colonna the painter is no more, but the +son of Montalto has escaped thy dagger, and demands atonement for his +father's blood. Dismount, assassin! and defend thy worthless life!" + +The deep and startling grandeur of Colonna's voice, and the implacable +hostility which flashed from his fierce eyeballs, shook the firm +sinews of the guilty governor, and again his swarthy lineaments were +blanched with terror. By a sudden and powerful effort, however, he +regained self-mastery, and gathering into his grim features all the +pride and insolence of his soul, he darted upon his youthful enemy a +sneer of contempt. "Presuming vagrant!" he shouted, in accents hoarse +with wrath, "dare to impede my progress, and my retinue, which is at +hand, shall scatter thy limbs on the highway!" + +Still firmly grasping the bridle, Colonna eyed him for a moment with +quiet scorn, and then he smiled--briefly indeed, but with a stinging +mockery, a hot and withering scorn of eye and lip, that seared the +haughty chieftain to the brain. Writhing with sudden frenzy, he +spurred his mettled charger, and endeavoured to ride down his +opponent; but the generous animal, true to the instincts of a nature +nobler than his master's, refused to advance, and plunged and +demi-volted with a violence which would have unseated a less +experienced rider. At this moment, the heavy trampling of approaching +horses rolled in doubling echoes through the ravine. Encouraged by the +welcome sound, Barozzo attempted to draw his sword, but before the +plunging of his horse would allow him to reach the hilt, the vigilant +Colonna smote him on the cheek with his sheathed weapon. Then +relinquishing the bridle, and stepping lightly sideways, he struck the +horse's flank, and the startled animal, straining every sinew, bounded +away like a ball, and quickly disappeared round the second angle of +the cliff, followed by the loud laugh of the exulting Colonna, whose +fierce ha! ha! re-echoed through the rocky hollow like a trumpet-call. +Meanwhile the Greeks, who had turned the first angle in time to behold +the termination of the struggle, drew their sabres, and pushing their +horses into a gallop, rushed down upon us like infuriated tigers. +Anticipating their attack, I was not unprepared to aid my gallant +friend in this emergency; but all assistance was superfluous to one so +fertile in resources. He turned with graceful promptitude upon the +savage Cretans, and before their powerful steeds could measure the +short intervening distance, his sword was firmly set between his +teeth, and two pistols appeared with magical abruptness in his grasp. +Levelled by an eye which never failed, these weapons lodged a bullet +in the breast of each approaching Greek. The colossal riders reeled in +their saddles; their sabres quivered in their weakened grasp, and +reclining for support upon the necks of their startled horses, they +successively passed us, and turned the angle beyond which their chief +had disappeared. Colonna now threw down his pistols, and exclaimed +exultingly, "Now is the crowning hour, my Angelo! follow me, and you +shall find the scaly monster of my dream caught in a trap from which +no human power can free him." + +I rode by his side in wondering anticipation, and when we had passed +the angle, I beheld a scene which still remains engraven on my memory. +The defile here expanded into an irregular oval, the extremity of +which was blocked up by a dense and impervious mass of young beech and +poplar, rising above thrice the height of a tall man, and levelled +that morning by the ponderous axe of the indefatigable Colonna. The +courser of Barozzo had plunged deep into the leafy labyrinth, and the +unhorsed governor, entangled by his velvet drapery, was endeavouring +to extricate himself from the forked and intersecting branches, while +the horses of the Greeks stood panting in the shade, near the bleeding +bodies of their fallen masters, and the noble brutes snorted with +horror, and shook in every joint, as with lowered necks and flaming +eyes, they snuffed the blood of the expiring wretches. + +As we approached the governor, he succeeded in releasing himself by +cutting his rich mantle into shreds with his dagger. Stepping out of +his leafy toils, he stood before us like a wild beast caught in a +hunter's trap, foaming, furious, and breathless, but evidently +dismayed by the sudden and irremediable loss of his armed followers. +Divested of the drapery which had served the double purpose of +concealment and display, we observed that he was accoutred in back and +breast proof armour, of the light steel scales I have before +described. He looked the very serpent of Colonna's dream, and the +malignant scowl of his small and snaky eyes gave singular force to the +resemblance. His generous enemy allowed him time to recover from the +fatigue of disentangling himself, and then approached him. "Barozzo!" +said he, "last night I shot thy cowardly assassin. In dying penitence +he called himself _thy_ agent in the murder of my noble parent, and +bade me shun the daggers of thy savage Cretans. But Montalto's son +would risk a thousand lives to gain his just revenge, and again he +warns thee to defend thy life. Pisani shall be umpire of the combat, +and his time-honoured name is pledge enough that no foul play is meant +thee." + +The governor, who had now recovered breath and self-possession, folded +his arms, and met the stern defiance of his youthful foe with a look +of contemptuous indifference. Not deigning a reply, he addressed +himself to me in tones of angry expostulation, and expressed his +indignant surprise that a son of the Senator Pisani should thus lend +himself to the designs of a young vagrant, who was destined to grace +the benches of a galley. My reply was anticipated by the fiery +Colonna, whose sword flashed with lightning quickness from the +scabbard, while his haughty lip curled up with unutterable scorn. + +"Remorseless villain!" he shouted, in a voice of appalling wrath, "I +know a venom yet shall sting thy recreant spirit into action. Know, +Ercole Barozzo! that Foscari's daughter was wooed and won by +_me_--plighted her troth to _me_--long ere she saw thy truculent and +yellow visage. Nay, more, she would ere this have fled with me from +Lombardy, had not higher duties staid our mutual purpose." + +The governor, although a renowned and fearless soldier in earlier +life, had betrayed a terror on the first view of Colonna, and a +reluctance to engage with him in single-handed conflict, which I had +referred to the depressing action of a diseased conscience, or to the +increased love of life generated by his prosperous condition; but a +taunt like this was beyond all human endurance; it stung him to the +very soul, and roused his lazy valour into life and fury. His sinews +stiffened with rage, and his widely-opened eyes glared upon Colonna +like those of a tigress at bay, while his teeth remained firmly +clenched, and inaudible maledictions quivered on his working lips. +Tearing his formidable sword from its sheath, he rushed like one +delirious upon his adversary, and their blades met with a clash which +told the deadly rancour of the combatants. + +I now witnessed a conflict unparalleled for intense and eager +thirst of blood. It was truly the death-grapple of the lion and +the serpent. The noble and generous Colonna, pursuing his just +revenge, and trusting, like the kingly animal, to native strength +and courage, sought no unfair advantage; while the crafty Barozzo, +huge in body, tortuous in mind, and scaled with impenetrable steel, +well personified the reptile of Colonna's vision. Although a +practised and wary swordsman, he did not wield his weapon like +Colonna, who, with equal skill in stratagem and feint, was unrivalled +in that lightning-quickness and ready sympathy of eye and hand, for +which the Italians are pre-eminent amongst the swordsmen of Europe; +but the courage and self-possession of the governor had been exercised +in frequent conflicts with the Moslem; his sinews were strung with +martial toil and daily exercise; and his well-mailed person presented +so little vulnerable surface as greatly to protract and facilitate his +defence. He soon learned, however, to respect the formidable skill and +untiring arm of his young opponent, whose weapon played with a motion +so rapid and incessant, that he seemed to parry and thrust at the same +instant; and had not the large and powerful hand of Barozzo retained +a firm grasp of his hilt, he would have been disarmed at the first +onset. After a few passes, Colonna's point struck the centre of the +governor's corselet with a force which made the scales sink deep +beneath the pressure, but the tempered steel resisted this and many +other well-directed hits. The conflict proceeded with unabated +fierceness, and for a period which would have utterly exhausted men +of ordinary lungs and sinews, when Barozzo, finding all his lunges +ineffective, and fearing premature exhaustion, endeavoured to sustain +and collect his powers by remaining on the defensive; but it was now +too late. His sword was irrecoverably entangled in the whirlwind +involutions of Colonna's weapon--his hold began to relax--and he saw +the moment rapidly approaching when he should be disarmed, and at the +mercy of an unappeasable foe.[A] Despairing of success, thirsting for +revenge, and regardless of the laws of fair and open combat, he +suddenly drew his long dagger, dropped on one knee, and made a thrust +which would have proved fatal to a less vigilant adversary. But +Colonna had anticipated the possibility of this base attempt from one +so destitute of all chivalrous feeling, and his quick eye observed and +met the movement. Stepping lightly back, he whirled his keen-edged +blade with a force which cut deep into Barozzo's wrist. The dagger +dropped from his palsied grasp, and, at the same instant, his sword +flew above his head. Colonna, having disarmed his treacherous enemy +while still kneeling, disdained to follow up his advantage, and coolly +said to him, "That trick was worthy of you, governor! but your +murderous game is nearly up. Resume your sword, and clutch the guard +more firmly, or in three passes more you will be food for vultures!" + +[Footnote A: When a student in Germany, the writer had twelve months' +drill in fencing from a French emigrant, and saw a fencing-match _à +l'outrance_ between that equivocal personage the Chevalier d'Eon--then +an elderly man or woman--with a young and vigorous fencing-master, an +emigrant nobleman, who, like Colonna, by rapid involutions, so +entangled the foil of the Chevalier, that he was at length quite +exhausted, and unable to ward off the incessant attacks of his +adversary. He recollects, too, a curious fact, that the Chevalier, +when fencing, emitted, whenever he lunged out, a succession of sounds +from the throat, which he can only compare with the short grunts of a +frightened pig.--_April 1858._] + +Barozzo, who had started from the ground, and now stood foaming at the +mouth like a chafed panther, said nothing in reply, but seized his +sword, and rushed upon his generous adversary with desperate but +unavailing ferocity. I could now perceive that Colonna pressed him +more hotly than before, and that his point no longer sought the +corselet, but the throat of Barozzo, where indeed alone he was +mortally vulnerable, and where, ere long, the death-stroke reached +him. A few passes had been exchanged without a hit, when suddenly +Barozzo's sword again flew from his grasp, and long before it reached +the ground, Colonna's point was buried in his throat. The thrust was +mortal. The steel had severed the duct of life; the hot blood bubbled +out in streams; and the huge Barozzo staggered, reeled, and fell upon +his back. A bloody froth now gathered round his lips, which worked +with agony and rage; the life-blood ebbed apace, and soon the trunk +and limbs of the colossal chieftain were stiffened in death. But even +in death the dominant passions of his soul were strongly written in +his livid features. His glazed and sunken eyes still glared with +fiend-like malice on his conqueror, and every lineament was inwrought +with reckless and insatiable ferocity. + +Colonna gazed a while in solemn and impressive silence upon the foe he +had destroyed. His broad forehead darkened with deep thought, and his +eyes saddened with painful recollections of the beloved parent whose +untimely death he had so well avenged. Soon, however, his noble +features brightened with a fervent look of blended filial piety and +exultation. He wiped his reeking blade upon the remnants of Barozzo's +mantle, and we retraced our steps. Colonna ascended a sheep-path, and +crossed the mountain to regain his boat, while I returned by a +circuitous road to the villa, leaving the governor of Candia and his +retinue to the vultures of the Apennine, which, with unerring ken, had +espied the dead Greeks, and were already sailing in wide eddies high +above the scene of blood. + + * * * * * + +Here my friend, who had with difficulty pursued his way through the +mouldy pages of the decayed manuscript, was compelled to make a final +pause. The long action of time and damp had nearly obliterated the +remainder of the narrative, and glimpses only of romantic perils by +sea and land were occasionally discernible. We were obliged to suspend +all farther gratification of our curiosity until our return to Venice, +where we hoped by a chemical process to succeed in restoring to a more +legible tint the pale characters of this interesting manuscript. + + + + +NAPOLEON. + +BY J. G. LOCKHART. + +[_MAGA._ JULY 1821.] + + + The mighty sun had just gone down + Into the chambers of the deep; + The ocean birds had upward flown, + Each in his cave to sleep. + + And silent was the island shore, + And breathless all the broad red sea, + And motionless beside the door + Our solitary tree. + + Our only tree, our ancient palm, + Whose shadow sleeps our door beside. + Partook the universal calm, + When Buonaparte died. + + An ancient man, a stately man, + Came forth beneath the spreading tree, + His silent thoughts I could not scan, + His tears I needs must see. + + A trembling hand had partly cover'd + The old man's weeping countenance, + Yet something o'er his sorrow hover'd + That spake of War and France; + + Something that spake of other days, + When trumpets pierced the kindling air, + And the keen eye could firmly gaze + Through battle's crimson glare. + + Said I, Perchance this faded hand, + When Life beat high, and Hope was young, + By Lodi's wave--on Syria's sand-- + The bolt of death hath flung. + + Young Buonaparte's battle-cry + Perchance hath kindled this old cheek; + It is no shame that he should sigh,-- + His heart is like to break. + + He hath been with him, young and old; + He climb'd with him the Alpine snow; + He heard the cannon when they roll'd + Along the silver Po. + + His soul was as a sword, to leap + At his accustom'd leader's word; + I love to see the old man weep,-- + He knew no other lord. + + As if it were but yesternight, + This man remembers dark Eylau,-- + His dreams are of the Eagle's flight, + Victorious long ago. + + The memories of worser time + Are all as shadows unto him; + Fresh stands the picture of his prime,-- + The later trace is dim. + + I enter'd, and I saw him lie + Within the chamber, all alone, + I drew near very solemnly + To dead Napoleon. + + He was not shrouded in a shroud, + He lay not like the vulgar dead, + Yet all of haughty, stern, and proud + From his pale brow was fled. + + He had put harness on to die, + The eagle-star shone on his breast, + His sword lay bare his pillow nigh,-- + The sword he liked the best. + + But calm--most calm was all his face, + A solemn smile was on his lips, + His eyes were closed in pensive grace-- + A most serene eclipse! + + You would have said some sainted sprite + Had left its passionless abode,-- + Some man, whose prayer at morn and night + Had duly risen to God. + + What thoughts had calm'd his dying breast + (For calm he died) cannot be known; + Nor would I wound a warrior's rest-- + Farewell, Napoleon! + + No sculptured pile our hands shall rear; + Thy simple sod the stream shall lave. + The native Holly's leaf severe + Shall grace and guard thy grave. + + The Eagle stooping from the sky + Shall fold his wing and rest him here, + And sunwards gaze with glowing eye + From Buonaparte's bier. + + + + +A LEGEND OF GIBRALTAR. + +BY COLONEL E. B. HAMLEY. + +[_MAGA._ NOVEMBER 1851.] + + +CHAPTER I. + +The Governor's residence at Gibraltar was, in days of Spanish +domination, a religious house, and still retains the name of the +Convent. Two sides of a long quadrangular gallery, traversing the +interior of the building, are hung with portraits of officers present +at the great siege in 1779-83, executed in a style which proves that +Pre-Raphaelite painters existed in those days. One of these portraits +represents my grandfather. To judge from a painting of him by Sir +Joshua, and a small miniature likeness, both still in possession of +the family, he must have been rather a good-looking old gentleman, +with an affable, soldier-like air, and very respectable features. The +portrait at the Convent is doubtless a strong likeness, but by no +means so flattering; it represents him much as he might have appeared +in life, if looked at through a cheap opera-glass. A full inch has +been abstracted from his forehead and added to his chin; the bold nose +has become a great promontory in the midst of the level countenance; +the eyes have gained in ferocity what they have lost in speculation, +and would, indeed, go far to convey a disagreeable impression of my +ancestor's character, but for the inflexible smile of the mouth. +Altogether, the grimness of the air, the buckram rigidity of figure, +and the uncompromising hardness of his shirt-frill and the curls of +his wig, are such as are to be met with in few works of art, besides +the figure-heads of vessels and the sign-boards of country inns. + +However, my grandfather is no worse off than his compeers. Not far +from this one is another larger painting, representing a council of +officers held during the siege, where, notwithstanding the gravity of +the occasion and the imminence of the danger, not a single face in the +intrepid assembly wears the slightest expression of anxiety or fear, +or, indeed, of anything else; and though my progenitor, in addition to +the graces of the other portrait, is here depicted with a squint, yet +he is by no means the most ill-looking individual present. But the +illustrious governor, Eliott, has suffered more than anybody at the +hands of the artist. Besides figuring in the production aforesaid, a +statue of him stands in the Alameda, carved in some sort of wood, +unluckily for him, of a durable nature. The features are of a very +elevated cast, especially the nose; the little legs seem by no means +equal to the task of sustaining the enormous cocked-hat; and the +bearing is so excessively military, that it has been found necessary +to prop the great commander from behind to prevent him from falling +backwards. + +My grandfather, John Flinders, joined the garrison of Gibraltar +as a major of infantry a few years before the siege. He was then +forty-seven years of age, and up to that time had remained one of the +most determined old bachelors that ever existed. Not that he ever +declaimed against matrimony in the style of some of our young moderns, +who fancy themselves too strong-minded to marry; the truth being that +they remain single, either because they have not been gifted by nature +with tastes sufficiently strong to like one woman better than another, +or else, because no woman ever took the trouble to lay siege to them. +My grandfather had never married, simply, I believe, because matrimony +had never entered his head. He seldom ventured, of his own choice, +into ladies' society, but, when he did, no man was more emphatically +gallant to the sex. One after one, he saw his old friends abandoning +the irresponsible ease of bachelorhood for the cares of wedded life; +but while he duly congratulated them on their felicity, and officiated +as godfather to their progeny, he never seemed to anticipate a +similar destiny for himself. All his habits showed that he had been +too long accustomed to single harness to go cleverly as one of a pair. +He had particular hours of rising and going to bed; of riding out and +returning; of settling himself down for the evening to a book and +pipe, which the presence of a helpmate would have materially deranged. +And therefore, without holding any Malthusian tenets, without pitying +his Benedick acquaintances, or entertaining a thought of the sex which +would have been in the least degree derogatory to the character of a +De Coverley, his castles in the air were never tenanted by any of his +own posterity. + +It was fortunate for my grandfather that in his time people did +not suffer so much as now from that chronic inflammation of the +conscience, which renders them perfectly miserable unless they are +engaged in some tangible pursuit--"improving their minds," or "adding +to the general stock of information." A more useless, contented person +never existed. He never made even a show of employing himself +profitably, and never complained of weariness in maintaining the +monotonous jog-trot of his simple daily life. He read a good deal, +certainly, but it was not to improve his mind, only to amuse himself. +Strong-minded books, to stimulate his thinking faculties, would have +had no charms for him; he would as soon have thought of getting +galvanised for the pleasure of looking at his muscles. And I don't +know whether it was not just as well. In systematically cultivating +his mind, he would merely have been laying a top-dressing on a thin +soil--manuring where there would never have been a crop--and some +pleasant old weeds would have been pulled up in the process. A green +thistly common, even though a goose could hardly find sustenance +there, is nature still, which can hardly be said of a patch of earth +covered with guano. + +So my grandfather went on enjoying himself without remorse after his +own fashion, and never troubled himself to think--an operation that +would have been inconvenient to himself, and productive of no great +results to the world. He transplanted his English habits to Gibraltar; +and, after being two years there, knew nothing more of Spain or +Spaniards than the view of the Andaluçian hills from the Rock, and a +short constitutional daily ride along the beach beyond the Spanish +lines, to promote appetite and digestion, afforded him. And so he +might have continued to vegetate during the remainder of his service +there, but for a new acquaintance that he made about this time. + +Frank Owen, commonly called Garry Owen by his familiars, was one of +those joyous spirits whose pleasant faces and engaging manners serve +as a perpetual act of indemnity for all breaches of decorum, and +trespasses over social and conventional fences, committed by them in +the gaiety of their hearts. In reproving his many derelictions of +military duty, the grim colonel of the regiment would insensibly +exchange his habitual tone of severe displeasure for one of mild +remonstrance--influenced, probably, quite as much, in secret, by the +popularity of the unrepentant offender, as by any personal regard +for him. Captain Hedgehog, who had shot a man through the heart for +corking his face one night when he was drunk, and all contact with +whose detonating points of honour was as carefully avoided by his +acquaintance as if they had been the wires of a spring-gun, sustained +Garry's reckless personalities with a sort of warning growl utterly +thrown away upon the imperturbable wag, who would still persist, in +the innocence of his heart, in playing round the den of this military +cockatrice. And three months after his arrival in Gibraltar, being one +day detected by a fierce old Spanish lady in the very act of kissing +her daughter behind the little señorita's great painted fan, his +good-humoured impudence converted the impending storm into a mild +drizzle of reproof, ending in his complete restoration to favour. + +This youth had brought with him from England a letter from his mother, +a widow lady, an old friend of my grandfather, who had some thirty +years before held with her a juvenile flirtation. It recommended to +his protection her son Frank, about to join the regiment as an ensign, +pathetically enlarging on the various excellencies, domestic and +religious, which shone forth conspicuously in the youth's character, +and of the comfort of contemplating and superintending which she was +about to be deprived. In fact, it had led my grandfather to expect a +youth of extreme docility and modesty, requiring a protector rather to +embolden than to restrain him. After in vain attempting to espy in his +young acquaintance any of the characteristics ascribed to him in his +mother's letter, the Major, naturally good-natured and accessible to +his youthful comrades, very soon suffered himself to be influenced by +the good-humour, vigorous vitality, and careless cleverness of the +Ensign, to an extent that caused him sometimes to wonder secretly at +his own transformation. His retired habits were broken in upon, one +after the other, till he had scarcely a secluded hour in his sixteen +waking ones to enjoy alone his book and his pipe. His peaceful +quarters, silent in general as a monk's cell, would now be invaded at +all sorts of hours by the jovial Garry, followed by the admiring +satellites who usually revolved around him; and the Major, with a +sound between a groan and a chuckle, would close his well-beloved +volume to listen to the facetious details of, and sometimes to +participate in, the uncongenial freaks of the humorous subaltern. Once +he had actually consented, at about the hour he usually went to bed, +to accompany the youth to a Carnival ball--one of a series of +entertainments at which the Catholic youth of the city are wont to +indemnify themselves for the mortifications of Lent, and where masks, +dominoes, and fancy dresses lend their aid to defeat the vigilance of +the lynx-eyed duennas and mammas who look anxiously on, perfectly +aware, in general, that their own watchfulness is more to be relied on +for nipping in the bud an indiscreet amour, than any innate iciness of +temperament or austere propriety in the objects of their care. Not +only did the Major mingle in the scene, but he actually, about +midnight, found himself figuring in a cotillon with a well-developed +señorita of thirteen years, whose glances and deportment showed a +precocious proficiency in the arts of flirtation. At this ball Garry +had become enamoured beyond all former passions (and they were +numerous and inconstant, in general, as if he had been a Grand Turk) +of one of his partners, a young Spanish lady. Her graceful figure and +motions in the dance had at first captivated him--and when, after +dancing with her himself, his eloquent entreaties, delivered in +indifferent Spanish, had prevailed on her to lift her mask for one coy +moment, the vision of eyes and eyebrows (the common beauties of a +Spanish countenance), and the clear rosy complexion, a much more rare +perfection, then revealed, had accomplished the utter subjugation of +his errant fancy. She had vanished from the ball silently and +irremediably, as a houri of Paradise from the awakening eyes of an +opium-eating Pasha; and all his attempts to trace her, continued +unceasingly for a couple of months afterwards, had proved in vain. + +One morning my grandfather was seated at breakfast in the verandah of +his quarters, situated high up the rock above the town. Below him lay +the roofs, terraced and balconied, and populous with cats, for whose +convenience the little flat stone squares at the top of most of the +houses appeared to have been devised. Tall towers, called mirandas, +shot up at intervals, from whose summits the half-baked inhabitants, +pent within close walls and streets, might catch refreshing glimpses +of the blue sea and the hills of Spain--conveniences destined soon +afterwards to be ruined by the enemy's fire, or pulled down to avoid +attracting it, and never rebuilt. Beyond the white sunny ridge of the +line wall came the sharp edge of the bay, rising in high perspective +to the purple coast of Spain opposite, which was sprinkled with +buildings white as the sails that dotted the water. My grandfather was +in a state of great sensual enjoyment, sniffing up the odour of the +large geranium-bushes that grew in clumps in the little garden in +front, and the roses that twined thickly round the trellis of the +vine-roofed verandah; sipping thick creamy Spanish chocolate between +the mouthfuls of red mullet, broiled in white paper, the flavour of +which he was diligently comparing with that of some specimens of +the same fish which he remembered to have eaten in his youth in +Devonshire; and glancing sideways over the cup at an open volume of +Shakespeare, leaned slopingly on the edge of a plate of black figs +bursting with ripeness, like trunk-hose slashed with crimson. The +Major was none of your skimming readers, who glance through a work +of art as if it were a newspaper--measure, weigh it, and deliver a +critical opinion on it, before the more reverential student has +extricated himself from the toils of the first act or opening chapter: +not he; he read every word, and affixed a meaning, right or wrong, to +all the hard, obsolete ones. The dramatic fitness of the characters +was not to be questioned by him, any more than that of the authentic +personages of history. He would reason on their acts and proceedings +as on those of his own intimate acquaintances. He never could account +for Hamlet's madness otherwise than by supposing the Prince must have, +some time or other, got an ugly rap on the head--let fall, perhaps, +when a baby, by a gin-drinking nurse--producing, as in some persons he +had himself from time to time been acquainted with, a temporary +aberration of the wits; a piece of original criticism that has not +occurred to any of the other commentators on this much-discussed +point. Of Iago he has recorded an opinion in an old note-book still +extant, where his observations appear in indifferent orthography, and +ink yellow with age, that he was a cursed scoundrel--an opinion +delivered with all the emphasis of an original detector of crime, +anxious that full though tardy justice should be done to the +delinquent's memory. But his great favourite was Falstaff: "A +wonderful clever fellow, sir," he would say, "and no more a coward +than you or I, sir." + +My grandfather proceeded slowly with his meal, holding the cup to his +lips with one hand and turning a leaf with the other--an operation +which he was delaying till a great mosquito-hawk (a beautiful brown +moth mottled like a pheasant), that had settled on the page, should +think proper to take flight. He had lately come from a parade, as was +evidenced by his regimental leather breeches and laced red waistcoat; +but a chintz dressing-gown and a pair of yellow Moorish slippers +softened down the warlike tone of these garments to one more congenial +with his peaceable and festive pursuits. Presently the garden door +opened, and a well-known step ascended to the verandah. Frank Owen, +dressed in a cool Spanish costume, advanced, and, stopping three paces +from the Major, took off his tufted sombrero and made a low bow. + +"You are the picture, my dear sir," he said, "of serene enjoyment +slightly tinged with sensuality. But how long, may I ask, have you +taken to breakfasting on spiders?"--pointing, as he took a chair +opposite the Major, at an immense red-spotted one that had dropt from +the ceiling on the morsel my grandfather was in the act of conveying +to his mouth. + +The Major tenderly removed the insect by a leg. + +"'Tis the worst of these al-fresco meals, Frank," said he. "Yesterday +I cut a green lizard in two that had got on my plate, mistaking him +for a bit of salad--being, as usual, more intent on my book than my +food--and had very near swallowed the tail-half of the unfortunate +animal." + +"There are worse things than lizards in the world," quoth Garry. +"Ants, I should say, were certainly less wholesome"--and he directed +the Major's attention to a long black line of those interesting +creatures issuing from a hole in the pavement, passing in an unbroken +series up my ancestor's left leg, the foot of which rested on the +ground, then traversing the cloth, and terminating at the loaf, the +object of their expedition. + +"Bless me," said the Major, as he rose and shook his breeches gently +free from the marauders, "I must be more careful, or I shall chance to +do myself a mischief. But they're worse at night. I've been obliged to +leave off reading here in the evenings, for it went to my heart to see +the moths scorching their pretty gauzy wings in the candle till the +wicks were half-choked with them." + +"Do you know, Major," said Owen, gravely, "that either this insect +diet, or the sedentary life you lead, is making you quite fat, and +utterly destroying the symmetry of your figure? In another week there +will be one unbroken line of rotundity from your chin to your knees." + +My grandfather glanced downward at his waistcoat. "No, my boy, no," +said he; "if there had been any difference, I should have known it by +my clothes. I don't think I've gained a pound this twelvemonth." + +"More than a stone," quoth Garry. "We all remarked it on parade +to-day--and remarked it with sorrow. Now, look you, a sea voyage is +the very thing to restore your true proportions, and I propose that we +shall take a short one together." + +"A sea voyage!" quoth my grandfather; "the boy is mad! Not if all the +wonders seen by Sinbad the Sailor lay within a day's sail. Did I not +suffer enough coming here from England? I don't think," said my +grandfather with considerable pathos, "that my digestion has ever been +quite right to this day." + +"'Sick of a calm,' eh?--Like your friend Mistress Tearsheet," said the +youngster. "But I've settled it all, and count on you. Look here," he +continued, drawing from his pocket a large printed bill, and unfolding +it before my ancestor. At the top appeared in large capitals the +words, "Plaza de Toros;" and underneath was a woodcut representing a +bull, gazing, with his tail in the air, and an approving smile on his +countenance, on the matadore about to transfix him. Then followed a +glowing account in Spanish of the delights of a great bull-fight +shortly to take place at Cadiz, setting forth the ferocity of the +bulls, the number of horses that might be expected to die in the +arena, and the fame of the picadores and espadas who were then and +there to exhibit. + +The Major shook his head--the captivating prospectus had no charms for +him: he had not, as I have before said, an inquiring mind, and habit +was so strong in him, that a change was like the dislocation of a +joint. The Ensign proceeded to paint the delights of the excursion in +the brightest colours he could command. They were to go to Cadiz in a +boat which he had lately bought; she was a capital sailer--there was a +half-deck forward, under which the Major might sleep as comfortably as +in his own bed--a cooking apparatus (and here, as he expatiated on the +grills and stews and devils that were to be cooked and eaten, with the +additional stimulus to appetite afforded by sea air, there was a spark +of relenting in my grandfather's eye). "You shall return," said the +tempter, "with a digestion so completely renovated, that my name +shall rise to your tongue at each meal as a grace before meat, and a +thanksgiving after it; and as to sea-sickness, why, this Levanter +will take us there in twelve hours, so smoothly that you may balance +a straw upon your nose the whole way." Finally, the cunning Ensign +laid before him an application for leave already made out, and only +awaiting his signature. + +My grandfather made some feeble objections, which Owen pooh-poohed in +his usual off-hand fashion. There was no standing against the +youngster's strong will, and at five o'clock that same evening the +Major found himself proceeding through the town towards the Waterport +for embarkation, by no means fully reconciled to the abandonment of +his beloved Lares. My luckless grandfather! did no presentiment warn +you of a consequence then hanging in the clouds, that was to change +utterly for you the untroubled aspect of those household gods? + +Owen had attired himself for the trip in a half-nautical costume--a +shirt of light-blue flannel, fastened at the collar with a smart +bandana, a blue jacket, loose duck trousers, and a montero cap, which +costume became the puppy well enough. He seemed of this opinion +himself, as he walked gaily along beside the Major: so did the +black-eyed occupants of many houses on each side, who peeped forth +smilingly from behind their green lattices, sometimes nodding, and +kissing their hands--for the Ensign had an incredible acquaintance +with the budding and full-blown portion of the population of +Gibraltar. The Major had stuck to his buckskins, (which stuck to him +in return), over which he had drawn a pair of jack-boots, and wore his +red-laced coat and regimental hat--for in those days that passion for +mufti, now so prevalent in the army, did not exist. Whenever he caught +sight of any of the greetings bestowed from the windows, he would take +off his laced hat, and, fixing his eyes on the tittering señorita, who +generally let fall the lattice with a slam, would make her a low +bow--and, after each of these acts of courtesy, my grandfather walked +on more elated than before. + +They passed the drawbridge at Waterport, and, struggling through the +crowd of Turks, Jews, infidels, and heretics, who usually throng the +quay, entered a shore-boat that was to row them out to where Owen's +vessel--the _Fair Unknown_, as he had christened her, in memory of his +unforgotten partner at the Carnival ball--lay moored. In her they +found a sailor who was to accompany them on their voyage--a noted +contrabandista, called Francisco, whose friendship Owen had lately +acquired, and who acted as his lieutenant on his marine excursions. +The boat was a neat affair--a small cutter, smartly painted, well +found, and capable of holding several persons comfortably; and +Francisco was a ruddy, portly, dark-skinned, large-whiskered son of +the sea, the picture of good-humour. My grandfather stept in, in his +jack-boots. There was much settling of carpet-bags and stowing of +provisions in the lockers, and then they hoisted sail, and glided +smoothly out from among the shipping into the bay. + +The breeze was light and fair, and they went on, as Frank had +promised, pleasantly enough. My grandfather for the first time +surveyed the scene of his two years' residence from the sea. The grey +old rock looked mellow in the evening light, as an elderly gentleman +over his wine--the window-panes glanced ruddily, the walls gleamed +whitely, and the trees were tinted with a yellower green; behind, in +the eastern sky, floated one single purple cloud. As the objects +became confused in the distance, the sharp rugged outline of the rock +assumed the appearance that has caused the Spaniards to call it El +Cuerpo--the appearance of a vast human body laid out on its back, and +covered with a winding-sheet, like a dead Titan on his funeral +pile--the head towards Spain, the chest arched at Middle Hill, the +legs rising gently upward to the knees at O'Hara's Tower, and then +sloping down till the feet rest on Europa. The sun went down as they +rounded Cabrita Point, and the breeze, freshening, took them swiftly +along under the huge hills that rise abruptly upward from the Spanish +coast. Then Francisco, lighting a charcoal fire, placed thereon, in a +frying-pan, tender steaks thickly strewn with sliced tomatas and +onions, from whence arose a steam that brought tears of gratitude and +delight into my grandfather's eyes. He anxiously watched the +cooking--even threw out slight suggestions, such as another pinch of +pepper, an additional onion, a slight dash of cayenne, and the like; +and then, settling a plate firmly on the knees of his jack-boots, with +a piece of bread and a cup by his side, and a knife and fork pointing +upwards in his hands like lightning-conductors, gazed cheerfully +around him. And when Francisco, rising from his knees, where he had +been blowing the charcoal fire, removed the hissing pan towards my +grandfather's plate, transferring to it a liberal portion of the +contents, the good man, gazing on the white and red streaks of +vegetable relieved by the brown background of steak, and the whole +picture swimming in a juicy atmosphere of gravy, felt sentiments of +positive friendship towards that lawless individual, and, filling a +bumper of Xerez, drank success to the voyage. + +Three times was my grandfather's plate replenished from the +thrice-filled pan. Afterwards he dallied a little with a cold pie, +followed by a bit of cheese for digestion. Then, folding his hands +across his stomach, he expressed his sincere opinion, that he had +never tasted anything so good as that steak; and when Owen placed in +his hand a smoking can of grog, he looked on the young man with a +truly paternal eye. He talked complacently and benevolently, as men +do who have dined well--praised the weather, the boat, the scene--and +wondered where a man was going who rode slowly along a mountain-path +above them, within hail, following him, in imagination, to his home, +in a sort of dreamy contentment. After a second can he began to +grow drowsy, and, just aware that Owen said the breeze was still +freshening, retired to the soft mattress spread for him under the +half-deck, and replacing his cocked-hat by a red nightcap, slept till +morning. + +It was broad daylight when he woke, conscious that for an hour or two +past he had been sleeping most uneasily. There was a violent swinging +motion, a rushing of wind and of water, that confused him extremely; +and, forgetting where he was, he nearly fractured his skull by rising +suddenly into a sitting posture. Steadying himself on his hands, in +the posture of the Dying Gladiator, he slewed himself round on the +pivot of his stern, and protruded his powdered head, like an old +beaver, out of his hole. Owen and Francisco were sitting in a pool +of water, trying to shelter themselves under the weather-side of the +boat--dripping wet, and breakfasting on cold potatoes and fragments +of meat left from last night's meal. My grandfather did not like the +appearance of things at all. Rent in twain by horrible qualms, he +inquired feebly of Owen if they were near Cadiz? Frank, in reply, +shook his head, and said they were at anchor. Then my grandfather, +making a vigorous effort, emerged completely from his place of repose, +and, rising to his feet, looked over the gunwale. The scene he beheld +was in dreary contrast to that of the evening before. Ridges of white +foam were all around--ahead was a long low line of sandy coast, +terminating in a point of rock whereon stood a lighthouse; and to +leeward the bay was enclosed by steep hills. Over the low coast-line +the wind blew with steady violence. A bright sun rather increased +the dreariness of the prospect, which was suddenly closed to my +grandfather by a shower of spray, that blinded him, and drenched him +to the skin, converting his jack-boots into buckets. The wind had +increased to a gale during the night, and they had been forced to take +precarious shelter in the harbour of Tarifa. The Major did not venture +on a second peep, but sat, dismally wet and sea-sick, the whole +morning, trying to shelter himself as he best could. Once, a man came +down to the beach, and gesticulated like a scaramouch, screaming also +at the same time; but what his gestures and screams signified nobody +on board could tell. At length, as the gale did not moderate, while +their position increased in discomfort, and was also becoming +precarious (for one of their anchors was gone, and great fears were +entertained for the other), Owen and Francisco decided to weigh, and +stand in for the shore, trusting to the smuggler's seamanship for a +safe run. The Major, in spite of his sickness, stood up and pulled +gallantly at the cable, the wind blowing his pigtail and skirts +perpendicularly out from his person. "Heaf!" screamed Francisco from +the bows; "Heave!" echoed Owen; and as the words flew past him on the +gale, my grandfather's exertions were prodigious. At last, after +tremendous tugging, the anchor came up. The jib was hoisted with a +reef in it, Owen holding the sheet, while the smuggler ran aft and +took the helm. They bent over to the gale, till the Major stood +almost perpendicularly on the lee gunwale, with his back against +the weather-side, and ran in till he thought they were going to bump +ashore; then tacking, they stood up along the coast, close to the +wind, till Francisco gave the word. Owen let go the sheet, and the jib +fluttered loosely out as they ran through a narrow passage into smooth +water behind the sea-wall, and made fast to a flight of steps. + +Presently some functionary appertaining to the harbour appeared, and +with him an emissary from the Governor of the place, who, aware of +their plight, had civilly sent to offer assistance. The messenger was +the same man who had made signals to them from the beach in the +morning; and he seemed to think it advisable that they should wait on +the Governor in person, saying that he was always disposed to be civil +to British officers. This advice they resolved to act upon at once, +before it should grow dark, foreseeing that, in case of their +detention from bad weather in Tarifa, the Governor might prove a +potent auxiliary. The Major would have wished to make some little +alterations in his toilette, after his late disasters; but, after +trying in vain to pull off his jack-boots, which clung to him like his +skin, he was obliged to abandon the idea, and contented himself with +standing on his head to let the water run out of them. As they +advanced along the causeway leading to the town (the point where they +landed is connected with the town by a long narrow sandy isthmus), +the gale swept over them volumes of sand, which, sticking on my +grandfather's wet uniform, gave him somewhat the appearance of +a brick-wall partially rough-cast. His beard was of two days' +growth--his hair-powder was converted into green paste by the +sea-water--and his whole appearance was travel-stained and deplorable. +Nevertheless his dignity by no means forsook him as they traversed the +narrow alleys of the ancient town of Tarifa on their way to the +approaching interview. + +His excellency Don Pablo Dotto, a wonderfully fat little man, received +them very courteously. He was a Spaniard of the old school, and +returned the stately greeting of my grandfather, and the easy one of +the Ensign, with such a profusion of bows, that for the space of a +minute they saw little more of his person than the shining baldness +on the top of his head. Then they were presented to his wife, a +good-natured, motherly sort of old lady, who seemed to compassionate +them much. But, while Owen was explaining to her the object of +their trip, and its disastrous interruption, he suddenly stopped, +open-mouthed, and blushing violently, with his gaze directed towards +the open door of a neighbouring apartment. There he beheld advancing +towards him, the Beauty of the Carnival ball. + +The Governor's lady named her as "her daughter, the Señorita Juana." +Spite of the different dress and circumstances, she too recognised +Frank, and coloured slightly as she came forward to receive his +greeting. The Ensign, an impudent scamp enough in general, was, +however, the more confused of the two; and his embarrassed salutation +was entirely thrown into the shade by the magnificence of my +grandfather's bow. However, he presently recovered his assurance, +and explained to the elder lady how he had previously enjoyed the +pleasure (with a great stress upon the word) of making her daughter's +acquaintance. Then he recounted to Juana the manner in which they had +been driven in here, when on their way to Cadiz to see the bull-fight. + +"We also are going to ride thither to-morrow," said the Señorita, +softly. + +"Ah, then, we shall meet there," said Frank, who presently after was +seized with a fit of absence, and made incoherent replies. He was +considering how they might travel together, and had almost resolved +to offer to take the whole family to Cadiz in his boat--a proposal +that would probably have somewhat astonished the little Governor, +especially if he had seen the dimensions of the craft thus destined +to accommodate himself and retinue. But Garry was an adept in +manoeuvring, and marched skilfully upon the point he had in view. He +drew such a pathetic picture of the hardships they had endured on the +voyage--their probable detention here for most of their short +leave--their friendless condition, and their desire to see something +of the country--that the little Governor was in a manner impelled +(fancying all the time that the impulse sprung altogether from his own +native benevolence) to desire that the two forlorn Englishmen would +travel to Cadiz under his escort. So it being settled entirely to +Garry's satisfaction that they were to start next morning at break +of day on horseback--an arrangement which my grandfather's total +ignorance of Spanish prevented him from knowing anything about--they +retired to the principal fonda, where the Major speedily forgot, over +a tolerable dinner, the toils and perils of the voyage. + + +CHAPTER II. + +Daybreak the next morning found them issuing forth from the ancient +city of Tarifa on a couple of respectable-looking hacks, hired from +the innkeeper. Frank had, with his accustomed generalship, managed to +secure a position at the off-rein of the Señorita Juana, who was +mounted on a beautiful little white barb. Under her side-saddle, of +green velvet studded with gilt nails, was a Moorish saddle-cloth, +striped with vivid red and white, and fringed deeply. From the +throat-lash of the bridle hung a long tassel, as an artificial +auxiliary to the barb's tail in the task of keeping the flies off, +further assisted by a tuft of white horse-hair attached to the butt of +her whip. She wore a looped hat and white plume, a riding-skirt, and +an embroidered jacket of blue cloth, fastened, as was the wrought +bosom of her chemise, with small gold buttons. Frank could not keep +his eyes off her, now riding off to the further side of the road to +take in at once the whole of the beauteous vision, now coming close +up to study it in its delightful details. + +In front of the pair rode the little Governor, side by side with a +Spaniard of about thirty, the long-betrothed lover of Juana--so long, +in fact, that he did not trouble himself to secure his authority in a +territory so undeniably his own, but smoked his cigar as coolly as if +there were no good-looking Englishman within fifty miles of his +mistress. He wore garments of the Spanish cut, made of nankeen--the +jacket frogged with silver cords, tagged with little silver XXXX +fishes--the latter appended, perhaps, as suitable companions to the +frogs. A hundred yards ahead was an escort of four horse-soldiers with +carbines on their thighs, their steel accoutrements flashing ruddily +in the level sunlight. Behind Frank came Major Flinders, clean shaved, +and with jack-boots and regimental coat restored to something like +their pristine splendour: by his side rode another lady, the Señorita +Carlota, Juana's aunt, somewhere about thirty years old, plump and +merry, her upper lip fringed at the corners with a line of dark down, +quite decided enough for a cornet of eighteen to be proud of--a +feminine embellishment too common for remark in these southern +regions, and, in the opinion of some connoisseurs, rather enhancing +the beauty of the fair wearers. She talked incessantly, at first, +to my grandfather, who did not understand a word she said, but +whose native politeness prompted him to say, "Si, Señorita," to +everything--sometimes laying at the same moment his hand on his heart, +and bowing with considerable grace. Behind this pair came another +interesting couple--viz. two servants on mules, with great saddle-bags +stuffed to extreme corpulence with provisions. + +It was a glorious morning--a gentle breeze sweeping on their faces as +they mounted the hills, but dying into silence in the deep valleys, +fresh, and glistening with dew. Sometimes they rode along a rocky +common, yellowed with a flowering shrub like furze--sometimes through +unfenced fields--sometimes along broad plains, where patches of +blossoming beans made the air rich with scent, and along which they +galloped full speed, the Governor standing high in the stirrups of his +demi-pique, the Señorita's white barb arching his neck till his muzzle +touched his chest under the pressure of the long bit, and my +grandfather prancing somewhat uneasily on his hard-mouthed Spanish +entero, whose nose was, for the most part, projected horizontally in +the air. The Major was not a first-rate seat--he rode with a long +stirrup, his heel well down, his leg straight, and slanting a little +forward, body upright, and elbows back, as may be seen in the plates +to ancient works on equitation--a posture imposing enough, but not +safe across country: galloping deranged it materially, for the steed +was hard-mouthed, and required a long, strong pull, with the body +back, and a good purchase on the stirrups. The animal had a most +voracious appetite, quite overcoming his sense of what was due to his +rider; and, on seeing a tuft of juicy grass, down went his nose, +drawing my grandfather, by means of the tight reins, well over the +pummel. On these occasions, the Major, feeling resistance to be in +vain, would sit looking easily about him, feigning to be absorbed in +admiration of the prospect--which was all very well, where there was a +prospect to look at, but wore a less plausible appearance when the +animal paused in a hollow between two hedges, or ran his nose +into a barn-door. But whenever this happened, Carlota, instead of +half-smothering a laugh, as a mischievous English girl would, ten to +one, have done, sat most patiently till the Major and his steed came +to an understanding, and would greet him, as they moved on again, with +a good-natured smile, that won her, each time, a higher place in his +estimation. + +Thus they proceeded till the sun rose high in the heavens, when, on +reaching a grove on the edge of one of the plains, they halted +under a huge cork-tree, near which ran a rivulet. The cavalcade +dismounted--the horses were tethered, the mules disburthened of the +saddle-bags, and the contents displayed under the tree; horse-cloths +and cloaks were spread around on the ground, and a fire of dry sticks +was lit on the edge of the stream with such marvellous celerity that, +before my grandfather had time to take more than a hasty survey of the +eatables, after seating himself on the root of a tree, a cup of +steaming chocolate was placed in his hand. + +"Confess, Major," said Garry, speaking with his mouth full of +sausage, "that a man may lose some of the pleasures of existence by +leading the life of a hermit. Don't you feel grateful to me for +dragging you out of your cobweb to such a pleasant place as this?" + +"'Tis an excellent breakfast," said my grandfather, who had just +assisted the Señorita Carlota to a slice of turkey's breast, and +himself to an entire leg and thigh--dividing with her, at the +same time, a crisp white loaf, having a handle like a teapot or +smoothing-iron--"and my appetite is really very good. I should be +perfectly easy if I could only understand the remarks of this very +agreeable lady, and make suitable replies." + +"Let me interpret your sentiments," said Garry; "and though I may not +succeed in conveying them in their original force and poetry, yet they +shall lose as little as possible in transmission. Just try me--what +would you wish to say?" + +"Why, really," said my grandfather, pondering, "I had a great many +things to say as we came along, but they've gone out of my head. Do +you think she ever read Shakespeare?" + +"Not a chance of it," said Owen. + +Here the Señorita laughingly appealed to Frank to know what my +grandfather was saying about her. + +"Ah," quoth my grandfather, quoting his friend Shakespeare-- + + "'I understand thy _looks_--the pretty Spanish + Which thou pourest down from these swelling heavens + I am _not_ perfect in----' + +"She's an extremely agreeable woman, Frank, I'll be sworn, if one only +understood her," quoth my grandfather, casting on her a glance full of +gallantry. + +The Ensign was not so entirely occupied in prosecuting his own +love affair as to be insensible to the facilities afforded him for +amusing himself at the Major's expense. Accordingly, he made a +speech in Spanish to Carlota, purporting to be a faithful translation +of my grandfather's, but teeming, in fact, with the most romantic +expressions of chivalrous admiration, as was apparent from the +frequent recurrence of the words "ojos" (eyes), "corazon" (heart), +and the like amatory currency. + +"There, Major," said the interpreter, as he finished; "I've told her +what you said of her." + +The Major endorsed the compliments by laying his hand upon his heart, +and bowing with a tender air. Whereupon Carlota, laughing, and +blushing a deeper red, made her acknowledgments. + +"She says," quoth Frank, "that she knew the English before to be a +gallant nation; but that if all the caballéros (that's gentlemen) of +that favoured race are equal to the present specimen, her own +countrymen must be thrown entirely into the shade." + +"Delightful!" cried my grandfather; but it is doubtful whether this +expression of pleasure was called forth by the sentiments attributed +to the Señorita, or by the crisp succulent tenderness of a mouthful of +sucking-pig which was at that moment spreading itself over his palate. + +Following up his idea, the mischievous Ensign continued to diversify +the graver pursuit of prosecuting his own suit with Juana, by +impressing Carlota and the Major with the idea that each was +disposed to think favourably of the other. In this he was tolerably +successful--the speeches he made to Carlota, supposed to originate +with my grandfather, had a very genuine warmth about them, being, in +fact, very often identical with those he had just been making, under +immediate inspiration, to his own divinity; while as for the Major, it +would have been an insult to the simplicity of that worthy man's +nature to exert any great ingenuity in deceiving him; it would have +been like setting a trap for a snail. So they journeyed on, highly +pleased with each other, and occasionally, in the absence of their +faithful interpreter, conversed by means of smiles and courteous +gesticulations, till my grandfather felt entirely at his ease, and was +almost sorry when, on the evening of the second day, they got to +Cadiz. + + +CHAPTER III. + +A whole city full of people condensed into one broad amphitheatre, all +bearing a national resemblance to each other in countenance and +costume, all apparently animated by the same spirit--for nothing could +be more unanimous than the applause which greeted a favourite +smilingly crossing the arena, the abuse which overwhelmed an object +offensive to the eye of the many-headed, or the ridicule which +descended in a joyous uproarious flood on the hapless individual in +whose appearance, dress, or manner, anything was detected calculated +to appeal to the highly sensitive risible faculty of a Spanish +assembly;--a gay and picturesque mixture of colours, waving and +tossing like a garden in a breeze, as the masses of white mantillas, +heads black as coal, decorated with flowers and green leaves, red +sashes, tufted sombreros, and yellow gaiters, with here and there a +blue-and-white soldier standing stiffly up, were agitated by each new +emotion--such was the scene that met the eyes of our travellers on +entering the bull-ring at Cadiz before the sport commenced. + +My grandfather had made his entry in spectacles--appendages highly +provocative of the public mirth--and had looked wonderingly for a +minute or two through the obnoxious glasses on a sea of faces +upturned, sideturned, and downturned, all looking at him, and all +shouting some indistinguishable chorus; while the men beat time, each +with the long, forked, painted stick, without which no Spaniard +possessing sentiments of propriety ever comes to a bull-fight, in a +manner most embarrassing to a somewhat bashful stranger, till their +attention was luckily diverted to an unhappy man in a white hat, in +derision of whom they immediately sang a song, the burden of which +was "El del sombrero blanco," (he of the white hat), the multitude +conducting itself throughout like one man. + +My grandfather and his friends occupied a distinguished position +in a box high above the multitude, and near that of the alcalde. +The Señorita Juana looked more lovely than ever in a white dress, +over which flowed a white gauzy mantilla, giving a kind of misty +indistinctness to the wavy outlines of her figure, and the warm tint +of her neck and arms. From her masses of black hair peeped one spot of +vivid white, a rosebud; and a green plumy leaf, a favourite ornament +with Spanish girls, drooped, bending, and soft as a feather, on one +side of her gold-and-tortoiseshell comb. The Major sat beside Carlota, +who, naturally frank, and looking upon him now as an old acquaintance, +would tap his arm most bewitchingly with her fan when she wanted to +direct his attention to any object of interest. So the Major sat by +her, all gallantry and smiles, gazing about him with wonder through +the double gold eyeglass, which still, in spite of the late expression +of popular feeling, bestrid his nose. He looked with the interest of a +child at everything--at the faces and dresses around him, distinct in +their proximity, and at those, confused in their details by distance, +on the opposite side of the arena. He shared in the distress of an +unfortunate person (a contractor for bulls, who had palmed some bad +ones on the public) who tried, as he walked conspicuously across +the ring, to smile off a torrent of popular execration about as +successfully as a lady might attempt to ward off Niagara with her +parasol, and who was, as it were, washed out at an opposite door, +drenched and sodden with jeers. And when the folding-gates were +opened, and the gay procession entered, my grandfather gazed on it +with delight, and shouted "Bravo!" as enthusiastically as if he had +been an habitual frequenter of bull-rings from his earliest youth. +First came the espadas or matadores, their hair clubbed behind like a +woman's, dressed in bright-coloured jackets, and breeches seamed with +broad silver lace, white stockings, shoes fastened with immense +rosettes, and having their waists girt with silk sashes, bearing on +their arms the blood-coloured cloaks that were to lure the bull upon +the sword-point. Next followed the chulos, similarly attired; then the +picadores, riding stiffly, with padded legs, on their doomed steeds; +and mules, whose office it was to drag off the dead bulls and horses, +harnessed three abreast as in classic chariots, and almost hidden +under a mass of gay housings, closed the procession. Marching across +the middle of the ring to the alcalde's box, they requested permission +to begin, and, it being granted, the picadores stationed themselves at +equal distances from each other round the circumference of the arena. +Then, at a signal from the alcalde, two trumpeters in scarlet, behind +him, stood up and sounded--a man, standing with his hand ready on a +bolt in a door underneath, drew it, and pulled the door swiftly back, +shutting himself into a niche, as the dark space thus opened was +filled by the formidable figure of a bull, who, with glancing horns +and tail erect, bounded out, and, looking around during one fierce +brief pause, made straight at the first picador. The cavalier, +standing straight in his stirrups, his lance tucked firmly under his +arm, fixed the point fairly in the shoulder of the brute, who, never +pausing for that, straightway upset man and horse. Then my grandfather +might be seen stretching far over the front of his box, his eyes +staring on the prostrate picador, and his hands clenched above his +head, while he shouted, "By the Lord, sir, he'll be killed!" And when +a chulo, darting alongside, waved his cloak before the bull's eyes and +lured him away, the Major, drawing a long breath, turned to a calm +Spaniard beside him, and said, "By heaven, sir, 'twas the mercy of +Providence!"--but the Spaniard, taking his cigar from his mouth, and +expelling the smoke through his nostrils, merely said, "Bien está" +('tis very well.) Meanwhile, the bull (who, like his predecessor in +the china-shop, seemed to have it all his own way) had run his horn +into the heart of a second horse, and the picador, perceiving from the +shivering of the wounded creature that the hurt was mortal, dismounted +in all haste, while the horse, giving one long, blundering stagger, +fell over and died, and was immediately stript of his accoutrements. +This my grandfather didn't like at all; but, seeing no kindred disgust +in the faces round him, he nerved himself, considering that it was a +soldier's business to look on wounds and death. He even beheld, with +tolerable firmness, the spectacle of a horse dashing blindfold and +riderless, and mad with fear and pain, against the barrier--rebounding +whence to the earth with a broken shoulder, it was forced again on its +three legs, and led stumbling from the ring. But when he saw another +horse raised to its feet, and, all ript open as it was, spurred to a +second assault, the Major, who hadn't the heart himself to hurt a fly, +could stand it no longer, but, feeling unwell, retired precipitately +from the scene. On reaching the door, he wrote over the same, with a +bit of chalk, part of the speech of Henry V., "the royal imp of fame," +to his soldiers at Agincourt:-- + + "He that hath not stomach for the fight, + Let him depart----" + +to the great astonishment of the two Spanish sentries, who gazed on +the words as if they contained a magical spell. + +Frank sat till it was over--"played out the play." Not that he saw +much of the fight, however; he had eyes and speech for nothing but +Juana, and was able to indulge his _penchant_ without interruption, as +the little Governor took great interest in the fight, and the lover +with the silver fishes was a connoisseur in the sport, and laid bets +on the number of horses that each particular bull would kill with +great accuracy. So the Ensign had it all his own way, and, being by no +means the sort of person to throw away this or any other opportunity +with which fortune might favour him, got on quite as well, probably, +as you or I might have done in his place. + +Leaving Cadiz next morning, they resumed the order of march they had +adopted in coming--Don Pablo riding, as before, in front with the +knight of the silver fishes, discussing with him the incidents of the +bull-ring. The old gentleman, though very courteous when addressing +the two Englishmen, had but little to say to them--neither did he +trouble himself to talk much to the ladies; and when he did, a sharp +expression would sometimes slip out, convincing Owen that he was +something of a domestic tyrant in private--a character by no means +inconsistent with the blandest demeanour in public. The Ensign was at +great pains to encourage the Major to be gracious to Carlota. "Get a +little more tropical in your looks, Major," he would say; "these +Spanish ladies are not accustomed to frigid glances. She's desperately +in love with you--pity she can't express what she feels; and she +mightn't like to trust an interpreter with her sentiments." + +"Pooh, nonsense, boy," said the Major, colouring with pleasure, "she +doesn't care for an old fellow like me." + +"Doesn't she?--see what her eyes say--that's what I call ocular +demonstration," quoth the Ensign. "If you don't return it, you're a +stock, a stone." Then he would say something to Carlota, causing her +eyes to sparkle, and canter on to rejoin Juana. + +It was genial summer-time with Carlota--she had passed the age of +maiden diffidence, without having attained that of soured and faded +spinsterhood. She had a sort of jovial confidence in herself, and an +easy demeanour towards the male sex, such as is seen in widows. These +supposed advances of the Major were accordingly met by her rather more +than half-way. None but the Major was permitted to assist her into the +saddle, or to receive her plump form descending from it. None but the +Major was beckoned to her rein when the path was broken and perilous, +or caught on his protecting arm the pressure of her outstretched hand, +when her steed stumbled over the loose pebbles. None was repaid for a +slight courtesy by so many warm, confiding smiles as he. These, +following fast one on another, began to penetrate the rusty casing of +the Major's heart. On his own ground--that is, in his own quarters--he +could have given battle, successfully, to a score of such insidious +enemies: his books, his flowers, his pipe, his slippers, and a hundred +other Penates would have encircled him; but here, with all his strong +palisading of habit torn up and scattered, all his wonted trains of +ideas upset and routed by the novelty of situation and scenery, he lay +totally defenceless, and open to attack. The circumstance of himself +and Carlota being ignorant of each other's language, far from being an +obstacle to their mutual good-will, rather favoured its progress. In +company with an Englishwoman, in similar circumstances, my grandfather +would have considered himself bound to entertain her with his +conversation, and, perhaps, have spoiled all by trying to make himself +agreeable--it would have been a tax on the patience of both: but being +absolved from any such duty in the present instance, he could without +awkwardness ride onward in full and silent communion with his own +thoughts, and enjoy the pleasure of being smiled upon without being +at any pains to earn it. + +His note-book, containing an account of the expedition, which I have +seen--and whence, indeed, the greater part of this chronicle is +gathered--exhibits, at this period of the journey, sufficient proof +that the Major enjoyed this new state of being extremely, and felt +his intellect, his heart, and his stomach all stimulated at once. + +"Spain," says my grandfather, in a compendious descriptive sentence, +"is a country of garlicky odours, of dirty contentment, of XXXX +overburthened donkeys, and of excellent pork; but a fine air in the +hills, and the country much sweeter than the towns. The people don't +seem to know what comfort is, or cleanliness, but are nevertheless +very contented in their ignorance. My saddle is bad, I think, for +I dismounted very sore to-day. The Señorita mighty pleasant and +gracious. I entertain a great regard for her--no doubt a sensible +woman, as well as a handsome. A pig to-day at breakfast, the best +I have tasted in Spain." + +The desultory style of the composition of these notes prevents me +from quoting largely from them. Statistics, incidents of travel, +philosophic reflections, and the state of his digestive organs, are +all chronicled indiscriminately. But, from the above mixture of +sentiments, it will be perceived that the Major's admiration for +Carlota was of a sober nature, by no means ardent or Quixotic, and +pretty much on a par with his passion for pig. + +This was far from being the case with Garry, who became more and more +enamoured every hour. The Spanish lover continued to conduct himself +as if he had been married to Juana for twenty years, never troubling +himself to be particularly agreeable or attentive, for which obliging +conduct Garry felt very grateful to him. The Major had been too long +accustomed to witness Owen's philanderings to see anything peculiar in +the present case, till his attention was attracted by a little +incident he accidentally witnessed. After the last halt they made +before reaching Tarifa, Garry was, as usual, at hand, to assist Juana +to her saddle. Her horse was fastened in a thicket of oleanders, whose +flowers and leaves formed a screen such as Cupid himself might have +planted. Garry seized the charming opportunity to offer to re-tie the +ribbons of her hat, which was very considerate; for, to tie them +herself, she would have been obliged to take off her gloves, which +would have been a great trouble. Having done so, still retaining his +hold of the strings, he glanced quickly around, and then drew her +blooming face towards his own till their lips met--for which piece of +impudence he only suffered the slight penalty of a gentle tap with her +whip. My grandfather discreetly and modestly withdrew his eyes, but he +was not the only observer. He of the silver fishes was regarding them +with a fixed look from among some neighbouring trees, where he had +tethered his horse. Probably the Spaniard, with all his indifference, +thought this was carrying matters a little too far, for, after +conversing a moment with the Governor, he took his place at Juana's +side, and did not again quit it till they arrived at Tarifa. Then both +he and the Governor took leave of our travellers with a cold civility, +defying all Garry's attempts to thaw it, and seeming to forbid all +prospect of a speedy renewal of the acquaintance. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +At the inn, that night, the Major betook himself to rest early, that +he might be ready to start for Gibraltar betimes in the morning, for +on the following day their leave was to expire. + +He had slept soundly for several hours, when he was awoke by Owen, who +entered with a candle in his hand. The Major sat up in bed and rubbed +his eyes. + +"Time's up, my boy, eh?" said he, with a cavernous yawn. "I should +have liked another hour of it, but it can't be helped," (preparing to +turn out). + +"I didn't want to spoil your rest last night," said Owen, seating +himself on the edge of the bed, "so I said nothing about a mishap +that has occurred. That smuggling villain, Francisco, took advantage +of our absence to fetch a contraband cargo in the boat from Gibraltar, +and has been caught in attempting to run it here." + +"God bless me," said my grandfather, "who would have thought it!--and +he such a capital cook! But what's to be done? where's the boat?" + +"The boat is, for the present, confiscated," said Garry; "but I +daresay the Governor would let us have it in the morning, on +explaining, and would perhaps release Francisco, with the loss of +his cargo; but--but--in fact, Major, I don't want the Governor to +know anything about our departure." + +My grandfather stared at him, awaiting further explanation. + +"Juana looked pale last night," said the Ensign after a pause. + +The Major did not dispute the fact, though he could not, for the life +of him, see what the state of Juana's complexion had to do with the +subject. + +"She never liked that dingy Spanish lover of hers," said the Ensign, +"and her father intends she shall marry him in a month. 'Twould make +her miserable for life." + +"Dear me," said my grandfather, "how do you know that?" + +"She told me so. You see," said Owen, shading the candle with his +hand, so that my grandfather couldn't see his face, and speaking +hurriedly, "I didn't intend we should start alone--in fact--that +is--Juana has agreed to fly with me to Gibraltar." + +"Agreed!--fly!"--gasped my grandsire: "what an extraordinary young +fellow!" + +"She's waiting for us now," resumed Garry, gathering courage after the +first plunge into the subject; "we ought to be off before daylight. +Oblige me, my dear sir" (smiling irresistibly), "by getting up +immediately." + +"And how are we to get away," asked my grandfather, "supposing this +insane scheme of yours to be attempted?" + +"I've bribed the sentry at Francisco's place of durance," returned the +Ensign. "We shall get out of the town the instant the gates are +opened; and the boat is tied to the steps, as before, only under the +charge of a sentry whom we can easily evade. Every guarda costa in the +place was sent out last night to blockade a noted smuggler who has +taken refuge in Tangier; so, once out, we are safe from pursuit: I +found it all out after you had gone to bed." + +The disposition of Major Flinders, as the reader knows, was the +reverse of enterprising--he wouldn't have given a straw to be +concerned in the finest adventure that ever happened in romance. He +paused with one stocking on, inclined, like the little woman whose +garments had been curtailed by the licentious shears of the pedlar, to +doubt his own identity, and wondering if it could be really he, John +Flinders, to whom such a proposition was broached, requiring him to +assist in invading the peace of a family. As soon as he recovered his +powers of speech, of which astonishment had for a moment deprived him, +he began earnestly to dissuade the Ensign from the enterprise; but +Owen knew his man too well, and had too much youthful vivacity of will +to allow much time for remonstrance. + +"Look you, Major," said he, "I'm positive I can't live without Juana. +I'll make a bold stroke for a wife. The thing's settled--no going back +now for me; and I shall go through with it with or without you. But +you're not the man, I'm sure, to desert a fellow in extremity, at a +time, too, when the advantages of your experience and coolness are so +peculiarly needed. 'Call you that backing of your friends?'" + +The compliment, or the quotation, or both, softened the Major. "'Would +it were night, Hal, and all well,'" said he, half mechanically +following the Falstaffian train of ideas Owen had artfully conjured +up, and at the same time drawing on the breeches which that astute +youth obsequiously handed to him. + +It was still dark when they issued forth into the narrow and dingy +streets of Tarifa. My grandfather, totally unaccustomed to visit the +glimpses of the moon in this adventurous fashion, was full of strange +fears--heard as many imaginary suspicious noises and voices as +Bunyan's Pilgrim in the dark valley--and once or twice stopt abruptly +and grasped Owen's arm, while he pointed to a spy dogging them in the +distant gloom, who turned out to be a door-post. But Owen was now in +his element; no tom-cat in Tarifa was more familiar with housetops and +balconies at the witching hour than he, and he stepped gaily on. +Presently they were challenged by a sentry, to whom Owen promptly +advanced and slipped into his itching palm a doubloon, when the +trustworthy warrior immediately turned upon his heel, and, walking to +the extremity of his post, looked with great vigilance in the opposite +direction. + +Owen advanced to a grated window and tapped. Immediately the burly +face of Francisco showed itself thereat, his white teeth glancing +merrily in a glimmer of moonshine. A bar, previously filed through, +was removed from the window, and Owen, taking him by the collar to +assist his egress, drew him through as far as the third button of his +waistcoat, where he stuck for a moment; but the substance was elastic, +and a lusty tug landed him in the middle of the narrow street. +Receiving Frank's instructions given in a hurried whisper, to go at +once to where the boat lay, and cast her off, ready to shove off on +the instant, he nodded and disappeared in the darkness, while Owen and +the Major made for the Governor's house. + +Arrived near it, Owen gave a low whistle--a peculiar one, that my +grandfather remembered to have heard him practising to Juana on the +previous day--when, to the unutterable surprise of the Major, _two_ +veiled figures appeared on the balcony. + +"Why, Owen, boy, d'ye see!" quoth the Major, stuttering with anxiety, +"who can the other be?--her maid, eh?"--indistinct stage recollections +of intriguing waiting-women dawning on him. + +"Ahem!--why, you see, Major," whispered Owen, "she wouldn't come +alone--couldn't manage it at all, in fact, without the knowledge of +her aunt, who sleeps in the next room; so I persuaded Carlota _to come +too_, and gave her a sort of half promise that _you_ would _take care +of her_." Here, wishing to cut short a rather awkward explanation, he +ran under the balcony--one of the ladies dropped a cord--and Owen +producing from under his coat a rope ladder, (he had sat up all night +making it), attached it, and, as soon as it was drawn up, ascended, +motioning to my astounded grandfather to keep it steady below. The +Major, after a moment's desperate half-resolve to make a hasty retreat +from the perilous incidents which seemed momentarily to thicken round +him, and leave his reckless friend to his fate, yielded to the force +of circumstances, and did what was required of him. Then Owen lifted +the ladies, one after the other, over the railing of the balcony, and +they swiftly descended. First came Juana, who, scarcely touching the +Major's offered hand, lit on the pavement like gossamer; then Carlota +descended, and making, in her trepidation, a false step near the +bottom, came so heavily on the Major, that they rolled together on the +stones. By the time they were on their feet again, Owen had slipped +down the ladder, and, taking Juana under his arm, set off rapidly +towards the bay. + +If anything could have added to the Major's discomfiture and +embarrassment, it would have been the pressure of Carlota's arm on +his, as she hung confidingly on him--a pressure not proceeding from +her weight only, but active, and with a meaning in it; but he was +in that state of mental numbness from the successive shocks of +astonishment, that, as with a soldier after the first two dozen, any +additional laceration passed unheeded. He was embarked in an adventure +of which he could by no means see the end; all was strange and dark in +the foreground of his future; and if he had been at that moment tried, +cast, and condemned for an imaginary crime, he would have been too +apathetic to say anything in arrest of judgment. + +With the silence and swiftness of a forlorn hope, they passed through +the town and along the sandy causeway. The succession of white rolling +waves on their left, where extended the full breadth of the Straits, +while the bay on their right was almost smooth, showed the wind to be +still against them; but it was now so moderate that they might safely +beat up for the Rock. Arrived at the head of the stairs leading to the +water, they paused in the angle of the wall to reconnoitre. Francisco +was lying coiled up in the head of the boat, his hand on the rope, +ready to cast her loose, and the boat-hook projecting over the bow. +Above them, and behind the wall, at a little distance, they could hear +the measured tread of the sentry, and catch the gleam of his bayonet +as he turned upon his walk: a few vigorous shoves would carry them +outside the sea-wall and beyond his ken. All depended on their +silence; and like two stealthy cats did Owen and Juana descend to the +boat--the Major and Carlota watching the success of their attempt with +protruded necks. Cautiously did Owen stride from the last stair to the +deck--cautiously did he transfer Juana to the bark, and guide her aft. +The Major was just preparing to follow, when a noise from the boat +startled him: Juana had upset an unlucky wine-jar which Francisco had +left there. The sentry put his head over the wall, and challenged; +Francisco, starting up, shoved hastily off; the sentry fired his +piece, his bullet shattering the wine-jar that had caused the +mischief. Juana screamed, Owen swore in English, and Francisco +surpassed him in Spanish. There was no time to return or wait for the +other pair, for the guard was alarmed by the sentry's shot, and their +accoutrements might be heard rattling near at hand, as they turned +hastily out. Before they reached the wall, however, the boat had +disappeared. + +Major Flinders watched it till it was out of sight, and, at first, +experienced a feeling of despair at being thus deprived of the aid of +Garry's boldness and promptitude, and left to his own resources. +Presently, however, a gleam of comfort dawned upon him--perhaps +Carlota would now abandon the enterprise, and he should thus, at any +rate, be freed from the embarrassment her presence occasioned him. In +this hope he was shortly undeceived. To have added the shame of +failure and exposure to her present disappointment, while an opening +to persevere still remained, did not suit that lady's ardent spirit; +and whether it was that the unscrupulous Garry had really represented +the Major as very much in love, or whether such an impression resulted +from her own lively imagination, she certainly thought her companion +would be as much chagrined at such a denouement as herself. She +displayed a prompt decision in this emergency, being, indeed, as +remarkable for presence as the Major was for absence of mind. Taking +the Major's arm, she caused him swiftly to retrace his steps with +her to the inn where he had slept. As they retreated, they heard the +boom of a gun behind them, fired, doubtless, from the Point, at the +Fair Unknown. At Carlota's orders, a couple of horses, one with a +side-saddle, were speedily at the inn-door; they mounted, and, before +the sun was yet risen, had issued forth from the gate of Tarifa, on +the road to Gibraltar. + +The Major rode beside her like a man in a dream--in fact, he was +partly asleep, having been deprived of a large portion of his natural +and accustomed rest, and partly bewildered. A few days before he had +been the most methodical, unromantic, not to say humdrum, old bachelor +in his Majesty's service; and here he was, how or why he did not well +know, galloping away at daybreak with a foreign lady, of whose +existence he had been ignorant a week before, with the prospect of +being apprehended by her relatives for her abduction, and incarcerated +by the Government for assisting in the escape of a smuggler. When at +length roused to complete consciousness by the rapidity of their +motion, he positively groaned in anguish of spirit, and vowed +internally that, once within the shelter of his own quiet quarters, +nothing on earth should again tempt him forth on such harum-scarum +expeditions. + +It was near noon when they reached Algeçiras, where they stopped to +breakfast, both of them rather exhausted with fatigue and hunger. This +town stands just opposite Gibraltar, across the bay--the road they had +come by forms the base of a triangle, of which Cabrita Point is the +apex, the bay washing one side of the projecting coast, the Straits +the other. The Major was reserved and embarrassed; there was a +tenderness about Carlota's manner that frightened him out of his usual +gallantry, and, to avoid meeting her glance, he looked steadily out of +the window at the rock of Gibraltar, casting wistful glances at the +spot where his quarters lay hidden in a little clump of foliage. +Immediately after the meal he quitted the room, on pretence of looking +after the horses. He determined to protract their stay in Algeçiras +till late in the afternoon, that they might enter Gibraltar in the +dusk, and thus avoid awkward meetings with equestrian parties from the +garrison, who would then be hastening homewards, in order to be in +before gun-fire, when the gates are shut. + +On returning, still out of temper, to the room where he had left +Carlota, he found her, quite overcome with fatigue, asleep on the +sofa. Her head was thrown a little back on the cushion; her lips were +just parted, and she looked in her sleep like a weary child. The Major +approached on tiptoe, and stood regarding her. His ill-humour melted +fast into pity. He thought of all her kindness to him, and, by a +sudden soft-hearted impulse, took gently one of her hands projecting +over the side of the sofa. Carlota opened her eyes, and squeezed the +hand that held hers; whereupon the Major suddenly quitted his hold, +and, retreating with great discomposure to the window, did not venture +to look at her again till it was time to resume their journey. + +At a little distance from Algeçiras is the river Palmones, called by +the English the Second River. This was crossed by a floating bridge, +pulled from shore to shore by a ferryman warping on a rope extended +across. They had just reached the opposite bank of the stream, when +Carlota noticed two horsemen galloping fast along the road they had +just traversed. A second glance showed them to be Don Pablo and the +lover of Juana. The first inquiries of the Governor had led him to +suppose that all had escaped in the boat, and it was not till some +time after that he had learned the true state of affairs. + +The fugitives now hastened on in earnest, and roused their horses to +a steady gallop, never pausing till they reached the Guadaranque, or +First River, about a mile nearer Gibraltar than the other, and +furnished with a similar bridge. The delay of the pursuers at the +former ferry had thrown them far in rear; and my grandfather, inspired +by the imminence of the peril, now conceived a bright idea--the +brightest, probably, that ever flashed upon him--by executing which +they might effectually distance their pursuers. Dropping his glove at +a little distance from the shore, he sent the ferryman to fetch it, +and then pushed off (Carlota having already embarked), and warped the +bridge to the opposite bank, heedless of the frantic gesticulations of +the proprietor, who screamed furiously after them to stop. When +he reached the opposite side, he took out his pocket-knife and +deliberately cut the rope. Having thus, as it were, blown up the +communication in his rear, my grandfather, without the loss of his +baggage, continued his retreat to the fortress; while the little +Governor, who galloped up just as they were disappearing, was, like +Lord Ullin, left lamenting. + +The sun was already declining, and threw their shadows far before them +on the sands, as they rode along the beach close to the water. The bay +at this inner extremity makes a great circular sweep--radii drawn from +the rock to different distant points of the arc would be almost equal; +and for half an hour they continued to see Gibraltar at nearly the +same distance to the right and in front of them, holding itself aloof +most provokingly. Twilight descended as they passed the Spanish lines +and entered on the Neutral Ground. The Major glanced anxiously at his +watch--in a few minutes the gun from Middle Hill would give the signal +for shutting the gates, and doom them irretrievably to return into +Spain for the night. For the first time in his life Major Flinders +really punished his horse, lifting the tired beast along with whip and +rein. Carlota's kept easily beside him under her lighter weight, and +they rapidly neared the barrier. Just as they passed it, a stream +of flame shot from the rock, illumining objects like a flash of +lightning;--then came the heavy report of the gun--another minute and +the drawbridge at Landport would be lifted; but they were upon it. +They dashed across somewhat in the style of Marmion quitting Douglas's +castle, "just as it trembled on the rise," and were safe in Gibraltar. + + +CHAPTER V. + +After life's fitful fever, the Major did not sleep well. He had left +Carlota comfortably established at the inn; and he now lay nervously +thinking how his embarrassment with regard to her was to terminate, +especially if Owen did not shortly make his appearance. Then he +was worried by doubts as to the fate of the Fair Unknown and her +passengers. They might have been recaptured, as escaped smugglers, by +a guarda costa--they might be detained in the Straits by adverse winds +or calms--they might have run ashore into some bay, and come on +overland. This last supposition haunted him most pertinaciously, and +he resolved to go up the rock as soon as it should be daylight, to +look out for them along the road from Spain. He lay tossing restlessly +till the morning gun gave the signal of the approach of dawn, and +before the echoes died away he had his breeches on. + +Night was at odds with morning when my grandfather, with a telescope +under his arm, sallied forth and began the ascent. Silence was over +the rock, except an occasional sighing of a remnant of night wind that +had lost itself among the crags. At first, the only clear outline +visible was that of the rugged edge of the rock above against the +colourless sky; but as he toiled up the steep zigzag path, the +day kept pace with him--each moment threw a broader light on the +scene--blots of shadow became bushes or deep fissures, and new shapes +of stone glided into view. The only symptoms of animal life that he +beheld were a rabbit that fled silently to his hole, and a great white +vulture that, startled from his perch on a grey crag, sailed slowly +upward on his black-tipped wings, circling higher and higher, till his +breast was crimsoned by the yet unrisen sun. + +The path led diagonally to the summit; and, turning a sharp level +corner, my grandfather looked perpendicularly down on the XXXX +Mediterranean, whose lazy waves, sending up a gentle murmur, rippled +far below him. On his left, also steep down below him, was the +Neutral Ground, level as the sea itself, extending northward into +sandy plains, abruptly crossed by tumbled heaps of brown mountains. A +reddening of the sky showed that the sun was at hand; and presently +the glowing disk came swiftly up from behind the eastern hills; the +pale earth shared in the ruddiness of the sky, and a long rosy gleam +swept gradually over the breadth of the grey sea, like an unwilling +smile spreading itself from a man's lips to his eyes and forehead. + +Conspicuous on the highest point in the landscape stood my +grandfather, panting with his exertions as he wiped his forehead. +After standing for a moment, bronzed in front like a smith at the +furnace, face to face with the sun, he turned and swept with his +telescope the road into Spain. Early peasants, microscopic as ants, +were bringing their fruits and vegetables into the fortress--a laden +mule or two advanced along the beach over which the Major had last +night galloped--but nothing resembling what he sought was in sight. +Then turning completely round, with his face to the path he had just +ascended, he gave a long look towards the Straits; and as he did so, +the wind, which had shifted to the south-west towards morning, blew +gently on his face. A sail or two was discernible in the distance, +outward bound, but nothing resembling the cutter. As the Major +looked, a signal was made from Cabrita, and directly two feluccas +left their station at Algeçiras, and swooped out, like two white +birds, as if to intercept some bark yet hidden by the Point. Again my +grandfather looked out to the Strait, and presently a small white +sail came in sight near Cabrita. For a quarter of an hour he stood +steadily, with levelled telescope, and then he was almost sure--yes, +he could swear--that he saw the small English ensign relieved against +the sail; and above, at the masthead, the yellow-striped flag that +Francisco hoisted before as the mark of a yacht. It was the Fair +Unknown--and my grandfather at once comprehended that the pursuers, +whom he had escaped the night before, had, on returning to Algeçiras, +made arrangements for her capture as soon as she should appear. + +The breeze was on her beam, and much fresher with her than farther in +the bay, so that the feluccas steered slantingly across her course as +she made for the rock. They held on thus, the pursuers and pursued, +till within a mile of each other, when the cutter suddenly altered her +course to one nearly parallel with that of the feluccas. The latter, +however, now gained fast upon her, and presently a puff of smoke from +the bow of the foremost was followed by the report of a gun. My +grandfather could look no longer through his glass, for his hand shook +like a reed, but began, with huge strides, more resembling those of +a kangaroo than a quiet middle-aged gentleman, to descend the rock. +Breathless, he reached his quarters, had his horse saddled and brought +out, and galloped off towards Europa. + +Europa Point is at the southern extremity of the rock, and commands at +once the entrance of the bay and the passage of the Straits. The road +to it from the north, where the Major was quartered, affords, for the +most part, a view of the bay. Many an anxious glance did he cast, as +he sped along, at the state of affairs on the water. The feluccas +fired several shots, but all seemed to fall wide, and were probably +intended only to frighten the chase, out of consideration for her fair +freight. Still, however, the English colours floated, and still the +cutter held her course. + +Some artillerymen and an officer were assembled at the Point as the +Major galloped up. + +"Can't you fire at 'em?" said he, as he drew up beside the battery. + +"Too far off," said the Lieutenant, rising from the parapet on which +he was leaning, and showing a drowsy unshaven countenance; "we should +only frighten them." + +"By heavens!" said my grandfather, "'tis horrible. I shall see the boy +taken before my eyes!" + +"Boy!" quoth the Lieutenant, wondering what particular interest the +Major could take in the smuggler. "What boy?" + +"Why, Owen of ours--he's running away with a Spanish lady." + +"The devil!" cried the Lieutenant, jumping down. "What, Garry +Owen!--we must try a long shot. Pull those quoins out" (to a gunner). +"Corporal, lay that gun; a dollar if you hit the felucca. I'll try a +shot with this one." So saying, he laid the thirty-two pounder next +him with great care. + +"Fire!" said he, jumping on the parapet to see the effect of the shot. +At the second rebound it splashed under the bows of the leading +felucca, which still held on. She was now scarcely three hundred yards +from the cutter. + +"Why, d--n their impudence!" muttered the Lieutenant, on seeing his +warning pass unheeded, "they won't take a hint. Corporal, let drive at +'em." + +The Corporal earned his dollar. The shot went through the side of the +felucca, on board of which all was presently confusion; in a few +minutes it was apparent she was sinking. The other, abandoning the +chase, went to the assistance of her consort, lifting the crew out, +some of whom were evidently hurt. + +"A blessed shot!" cried my grandfather, giving the lucky Corporal a +bit of gold; "but I'm glad they're picking up the crew." + +The cutter instantly stood in for the harbour, and half an hour +afterwards the Major bade his young friend and Juana welcome to +Gibraltar. + +Carlota was beside herself with joy at seeing the wanderers safe. She +first cast herself upon Juana, and cried over her; then embraced the +Ensign, who made no scruple of kissing her; lastly, threw herself +tenderly upon the Major, who gazed over her head as it lay on his +shoulder with a dismayed expression, moving his arms uneasily, as if +he didn't know what he was expected to do with them. Every moment it +was becoming clearer to him that he was a compromised man, no longer +his own property. On his way through the streets that morning he had +passed a knot of officers, one of whom he overheard describing "Old +Flinders" as "a sly old boy," for that he "had run away with a +devilish handsome Spaniard--who would have thought it?" "Ay, who +indeed!" groaned the Major, internally. But the seal was put to his +doom by the Colonel, who, when he went to report himself, slapped him +on the shoulder, and congratulated him on his happiness. "Fine woman, +I hear, Flinders--didn't give you credit for such spirit--hope you'll +be happy together." The Major, muttering an inarticulate denial, +hastily retreated, and from that moment surrendered himself to his +fate an unresisting victim. + +About dusk that night, Owen came to him. + +"By heavens!" the Ensign began, throwing himself into a chair, "I'm +the most unlucky scoundrel! Nothing goes right with me. I promised +myself that this should be my wedding-night--and here I am, as +forlorn a bachelor as ever." + +"What has gone wrong?" inquired my grandfather, removing his pipe from +his mouth. + +"I pressed her with all my eloquence," said Owen; "reminded her of her +promise to marry me the day we should arrive here--of the necessity of +caring for her reputation, after leaving her father's house and coming +here under my protection" (here my grandfather winced;) "talked, in +fact, like an angel who had been bred a special pleader--yet it was +all of no use." + +"Deliberating about marriage!" said the Major, "after leaving her +father and lover for you! What gnat can she be straining at, after +swallowing a camel of such magnitude?" + +"A piece of female Quixotry," returned Owen. "She says she can't think +of such selfishness as being comfortably married herself, while +Carlota is so unhappy, and her fate so unsettled." Here he made a +significant pause; but my grandfather was immovably silent, only +glancing nervously at him, and smoking very hard. + +"In fact, she protests she won't hear of marrying me, till you have +settled when you will marry Carlota." + +"Marry Carlota!" gasped the Major in an agonised whisper. + +"Why, you don't mean to say you're not going to marry her!" exclaimed +the Ensign, throwing a vast quantity of surprise into his expressive +countenance. + +"Why--why, what should I marry her for?" stammered the Major. + +"Oh, Lord!" said Garry, "here will be pleasant news for her! Curse me +if I break it to her." + +"But really now, Frank," the Major repeated--"marriage, you know--why, +I never thought of such a thing." + +"You're the only person that hasn't, then," rejoined Owen. "Why, what +can the garrison think, after the way you smuggled her in; what can +she herself think, after all your attentions?" + +"Attentions, my dear boy;--the merest civility." + +"Oh,--ah! 'twas civility, I suppose, to squeeze her hand in the inn at +Algeçiras, in the way she told Juana of--and heaven knows what else +you may have done during the flight. Juana is outrageous against +you--actually called you a vile deceiver; but Carlota's feeling is +more of sorrow than of anger. She is persuaded that nothing but your +ignorance of Spanish has prevented your tongue from confirming what +your looks have so faithfully promised. I was really quite affected +to-day at the appealing look she cast on me after you left the room; +she evidently expected me to communicate her destiny." + +My grandfather smoked hard. + +"Lots of fellows would give their ears for such a wife," pursued the +Ensign. "Lovelace, the Governor's aide-de-camp, bribed the waiter of +the hotel to lend him his apron to-day, at dinner, that he might come +in and look at her--swears she's a splendid woman, and that he'd run +away with such another to-morrow." + +Still my grandfather smoked hard, but said nothing, though there was a +slight gleam of pride in his countenance. + +"Poor thing!" sighed Garry. "All her prospects blighted for ever. +Swears she never can love another." + +At this my grandfather's eyes grew moist, and he coughed as if he had +swallowed some tobacco-smoke. + +"And as for me, to have Juana at my lips, as it were, and yet not +mine--for she's as inflexible as if she'd been born a Mede or +Persian--to know that you are coming between me and happiness as +surely as if you were an inexorable father or a cruel guardian--worse, +indeed; for those might be evaded. Major, major, have you no +compassion!--two days of this will drive me crazy." + +The Major changed his pipe from his right hand to his left, and, +stretching the former across the table, sympathetically pressed that +of the Ensign. + +"Do, Major," quoth Garry, changing his flank movement for a direct +attack--"do consent to make yourself and me happy; do empower me to +negotiate for our all going to church to-morrow." (My grandfather gave +a little jump in his chair at this, as if he were sitting on a pin.) +"I'll manage it all, you shan't have the least trouble in the matter." + +My grandfather spoke not. + +"Silence gives consent," said the Ensign, rising. "Come, now, if you +don't forbid me, I'll depart on my embassy at once; you needn't speak, +I'll spare your blushes. I see this delay has only been from modesty, +or perhaps a little ruse on your part. Once, twice, thrice,--I go." +And he vanished. + +The Major remained in his chair, in the same posture. His pipe was +smoked out, but he continued to suck absently at the empty tube. His +bewilderment and perturbation were so great that, though he sat up +till two in the morning, during which time he smoked eleven pipes, and +increased the two glasses of grog with which he was accustomed to +prepare for his pillow to four, he was still, when he went to bed, +as agitated as ever. + +In this state of mind he went to the altar, for next day a double +ceremony was performed, making Owen happy with Juana, and giving +Carlota a husband and me a grandfather. The Major was more like a +proxy than a principal in the affair; for Owen, taking the entire +management upon himself, left him little more to do than to make the +necessary responses. + +Carlota made a very good-tempered, quiet, inobtrusive helpmate, and +continued to be fond of her spouse even after he was a grey-headed +colonel. My grandfather, though credulous in most matters, could with +difficulty be brought to consider himself married. He would sometimes +seem to forget the circumstance for a whole day together, till it came +to be forced on his recollection at bed-time. And when, about a year +after his marriage, a new-born female Flinders (now my venerable aunt) +was brought one morning by the nurse for his inspection and approval, +he gazed at it with a puzzled air, and could not be convinced that he +was actually in the presence of his own flesh and blood, till he +had touched the cheek of his first-born with the point of his +tobacco-pipe, removed from his mouth for that purpose, making on +the infant's countenance a small indentation. + +The little Governor, Don Pablo, was subsequently induced to forgive +his relatives, and frequent visits and attentions were interchanged, +till the commencement of the siege put a stop to all intercourse +between Gibraltar and Spain. + +I have often, on a summer's evening, sat looking across the bay at a +gorgeous sunset, and retracing in imagination the incidents I have +related. My grandfather's establishment was broken up during the siege +by the enemy's shells, but a similar one now stands on what I think +must have been about the site of it. The world has changed since +then; but Spain is no land of change; and, looking on the imperishable +outline of the Andaluçian hills, unaltered, probably, since a time to +which the period of my tale is but as yesterday, it is easy for me to +"daff aside" the noisy world without, and, dropping quietly behind the +age, to picture to myself my old-fashioned grandfather issuing forth +from yonder white-walled town of Algeçiras with his future bride. + + + + +THE IRON SHROUD. + +BY WILLIAM MUDFORD. + +[_MAGA._ AUGUST 1830.] + + +The castle of the Prince of Tolfi was built on the summit of the +towering and precipitous rock of Scylla, and commanded a magnificent +view of Sicily in all its grandeur. Here, during the wars of the +middle ages, when the fertile plains of Italy were devastated by +hostile factions, those prisoners were confined, for whose ransom a +costly price was demanded. Here, too, in a dungeon, excavated deep in +the solid rock, the miserable victim was immured, whom revenge +pursued,--the dark, fierce, and unpitying revenge of an Italian heart. + +VIVENZIO--the noble and the generous, the fearless in battle, and the +pride of Naples in her sunny hours of peace--the young, the brave, the +proud Vivenzio, fell beneath this subtle and remorseless spirit. He +was the prisoner of Tolfi, and he languished in that rock-encircled +dungeon, which stood alone, and whose portals never opened twice upon +a living captive. + +It had the semblance of a vast cage, for the roof, and floor, and +sides, were of iron, solidly wrought, and spaciously constructed. High +above there ran a range of seven grated windows, guarded with massy +bars of the same metal, which admitted light and air. Save these, and +the tall folding-doors beneath them which occupied the centre, no +chink, or chasm, or projection, broke the smooth black surface of the +walls. An iron bedstead, littered with straw, stood in one corner: and +beside it, a vessel with water, and a coarse dish filled with coarser +food. + +Even the intrepid soul of Vivenzio shrunk with dismay as he entered +this abode, and heard the ponderous doors triple-locked by the silent +ruffians who conducted him to it. Their silence seemed prophetic of +his fate, of the living grave that had been prepared for him. His +menaces and his entreaties, his indignant appeals for justice, and his +impatient questioning of their intentions, were alike vain. They +listened, but spoke not. Fit ministers of a crime that should have no +tongue! + +How dismal was the sound of their retiring steps! And, as their faint +echoes died along the winding passages, a fearful presage grew within +him, that never more the face, or voice, or tread, of man, would greet +his senses. He had seen human beings for the last time! And he had +looked his last upon the bright sky, and upon the smiling earth, and +upon a beautiful world he loved, and whose minion he had been! Here +he was to end his life--a life he had just begun to revel in! And by +what means? By secret poison? or by murderous assault? No--for then it +had been needless to bring him thither. Famine perhaps--a thousand +deaths in one! It was terrible to think of it; but it was yet more +terrible to picture long, long years of captivity, in a solitude so +appalling, a loneliness so dreary, that thought, for want of +fellowship, would lose itself in madness, or stagnate into idiocy. + +He could not hope to escape, unless he had the power, with his bare +hands, of rending asunder the solid iron walls of his prison. He could +not hope for liberty from the relenting mercies of his enemy. His +instant death, under any form of refined cruelty, was not the object +of Tolfi, for he might have inflicted it, and he had not. It was too +evident, therefore, he was reserved for some premeditated scheme of +subtle vengeance; and what vengeance could transcend in fiendish +malice, either the slow death of famine, or the still slower one of +solitary incarceration, till the last lingering spark of life expired, +or till reason fled, and nothing should remain to perish but the brute +functions of the body? + +It was evening when Vivenzio entered his dungeon, and the approaching +shades of night wrapped it in total darkness, as he paced up and down, +revolving in his mind these horrible forebodings. No tolling bell +from the castle, or from any neighbouring church or convent, struck +upon his ear to tell how the hours passed. Frequently he would stop +and listen for some sound that might betoken the vicinity of man; but +the solitude of the desert, the silence of the tomb, are not so still +and deep as the oppressive desolation by which he was encompassed. His +heart sank within him, and he threw himself dejectedly down upon his +couch of straw. Here sleep gradually obliterated the consciousness of +misery, and bland dreams wafted his delighted spirit to scenes which +were once glowing realities for him, in whose ravishing illusions he +soon lost the remembrance that he was Tolfi's prisoner. + +When he awoke, it was daylight; but how long he had slept he knew not. +It might be early morning, or it might be sultry noon, for he could +measure time by no other note of its progress than light and darkness. +He had been so happy in his sleep, amid friends who loved him, and the +sweeter endearments of those who loved him as friends could not, that +in the first moments of waking, his startled mind seemed to admit the +knowledge of his situation, as if it had burst upon it for the first +time, fresh in all its appalling horrors. He gazed round with an air +of doubt and amazement, and took up a handful of the straw upon which +he lay, as though he would ask himself what it meant. But memory, too +faithful to her office, soon unveiled the melancholy past, while +reason, shuddering at the task, flashed before his eyes the tremendous +future. The contrast overpowered him. He remained for some time +lamenting, like a truth, the bright visions that had vanished; and +recoiling from the present, which clung to him as a poisoned garment. + +When he grew more calm, he surveyed his gloomy dungeon. Alas! the +stronger light of day only served to confirm what the gloomy +indistinctness of the preceding evening had partially disclosed, the +utter impossibility of escape. As, however, his eyes wandered round +and round, and from place to place, he noticed two circumstances which +excited his surprise and curiosity. The one, he thought, might be +fancy; but the other was positive. His pitcher of water, and the dish +which contained his food, had been removed from his side while he +slept, and now stood near the door. Were he even inclined to doubt +this, by supposing he had mistaken the spot where he saw them +over-night, he could not, for the pitcher now in his dungeon was +neither of the same form nor colour as the other, while the food was +changed for some other of better quality. He had been visited, +therefore, during the night. But how had the person obtained entrance? +Could he have slept so soundly, that the unlocking and opening of +those ponderous portals were effected without waking him? He would +have said this was not possible, but that in doing so, he must admit +a greater difficulty, an entrance by other means, of which he was +convinced there existed none. It was not intended, then, that he +should be left to perish from hunger. But the secret and mysterious +mode of supplying him with food, seemed to indicate he was to have no +opportunity of communicating with a human being. + +The other circumstance which had attracted his notice, was the +disappearance, as he believed, of one of the seven grated windows that +ran along the top of his prison. He felt confident that he had +observed and counted them; for he was rather surprised at their +number, and there was something peculiar in their form, as well as in +the manner of their arrangement, at unequal distances. It was so much +easier, however, to suppose he was mistaken, than that a portion of +the solid iron, which formed the walls, could have escaped from its +position, that he soon dismissed the thought from his mind. + +Vivenzio partook of the food that was before him, without +apprehension. It might be poisoned; but if it were he knew he could +not escape death, should such be the design of Tolfi, and the quickest +death would be the speediest release. + +The day passed wearily and gloomily; though not without a faint hope +that, by keeping watch at night, he might observe when the person came +again to bring him food, which he supposed he would do in the same +way as before. The mere thought of being approached by a living +creature, and the opportunity it might present of learning the doom +prepared, or preparing, for him, imparted some comfort. Besides, if he +came alone, might he not in a furious onset overpower him? Or he might +be accessible to pity, or the influence of such munificent rewards as +he could bestow, if once more at liberty and master of himself. Say he +were armed. The worst that could befall, if nor bribe, nor prayers, +nor force prevailed, was a friendly blow, which, though dealt in a +damned cause, might work a desired end. There was no chance so +desperate, but it looked lovely in Vivenzio's eyes, compared with the +idea of being totally abandoned. + +The night came, and Vivenzio watched. Morning came, and Vivenzio was +confounded! He must have slumbered without knowing it. Sleep must have +stolen over him when exhausted by fatigue, and in that interval of +feverish repose, he had been baffled: for there stood his replenished +pitcher of water, and there his day's meal! Nor was this all. Casting +his looks towards the windows of his dungeon, he counted but FIVE! +_Here_ was no deception; and he was now convinced there had been none +the day before. But what did all this portend? Into what strange and +mysterious den had he been cast? He gazed till his eyes ached; he +could discover nothing to explain the mystery. That it was so, he +knew. Why it was so, he racked his imagination in vain to conjecture. +He examined the doors. A simple circumstance convinced him they had +not been opened. + +A wisp of straw, which he had carelessly thrown against them the +preceding day, as he paced to and fro, remained where he had cast it, +though it must have been displaced by the slightest motion of either +of the doors. This was evidence that could not be disputed; and it +followed there must be some secret machinery in the walls by which a +person could enter. He inspected them closely. They appeared to him +one solid and compact mass of iron; or joined, if joined they were, +with such nice art, that no mark of division was perceptible. Again +and again he surveyed them--and the floor--and the roof--and that +range of visionary windows, as he was now almost tempted to consider +them: he could discover nothing, absolutely nothing, to relieve his +doubts or satisfy his curiosity. Sometimes he fancied that altogether +the dungeon had a more contracted appearance--that it looked smaller; +but this he ascribed to fancy, and the impression naturally produced +upon his mind by the undeniable disappearance of two of the windows. + +With intense anxiety, Vivenzio looked forward to the return of night; +and as it approached, he resolved that no treacherous sleep should +again betray him. Instead of seeking his bed of straw, he continued +to walk up and down his dungeon till daylight, straining his eyes in +every direction through the darkness, to watch for any appearances +that might explain these mysteries. While thus engaged, and as nearly +as he could judge (by the time that afterwards elapsed before the +morning came in), about two o'clock, there was a slight tremulous +motion of the floors. He stooped. The motion lasted nearly a minute; +but it was so extremely gentle, that he almost doubted whether it was +real, or only imaginary. He listened. Not a sound could be heard. +Presently, however, he felt a rush of cold air blow upon him; and +dashing towards the quarter whence it seemed to proceed, he stumbled +over something which he judged to be the water ewer. The rush of cold +air was no longer perceptible; and as Vivenzio stretched out his +hands, he found himself close to the walls. He remained motionless for +a considerable time; but nothing occurred during the remainder of the +night to excite his attention, though he continued to watch with +unabated vigilance. + +The first approaches of the morning were visible through the grated +windows, breaking, with faint divisions of light, the darkness that +still pervaded every other part, long before Vivenzio was enabled to +distinguish any object in his dungeon. Instinctively and fearfully he +turned his eyes, hot and inflamed with watching, towards them. There +were FOUR! He could _see_ only four: but it might be that some +intervening object prevented the fifth from becoming perceptible; and +he waited impatiently to ascertain if it were so. As the light +strengthened, however, and penetrated every corner of the cell, other +objects of amazement struck his sight. On the ground lay the broken +fragments of the pitcher he had used the day before, and at a small +distance from them, nearer to the wall, stood the one he had noticed +the first night. It was filled with water, and beside it was his food. +He was now certain that, by some mechanical contrivance, an opening +was obtained through the iron wall, and that through this opening the +current of air had found entrance. But how noiseless! For had a +feather almost waved at the time, he must have heard it. Again he +examined that part of the wall; but both to sight and touch it +appeared one even and uniform surface, while to repeated and violent +blows there was no reverberating sound indicative of hollowness. + +This perplexing mystery had for a time withdrawn his thoughts from the +windows; but now, directing his eyes again towards them, he saw that +the fifth had disappeared in the same manner as the preceding two, +without the least distinguishable alteration of external appearances. +The remaining four looked as the seven had originally looked; that is, +occupying, at irregular distances, the top of the wall on that side +of the dungeon. The tall folding-door, too, still seemed to stand +beneath, in the centre of these four, as it had at first stood in +the centre of the seven. But he could no longer doubt, what, on the +preceding day, he fancied might be the effect of visual deception. +The dungeon _was_ smaller. The roof had lowered--and the opposite ends +had contracted the intermediate distance by a space equal, he thought, +to that over which the three windows had extended. He was bewildered +in vain imaginings to account for these things. Some frightful +purpose--some devilish torture of mind or body--some unheard-of device +for producing exquisite misery, lurked, he was sure, in what had taken +place. + +Oppressed with this belief, and distracted more by the dreadful +uncertainty of whatever fate impended, than he could be dismayed, he +thought, by the knowledge of the worst, he sat ruminating, hour after +hour, yielding his fears in succession to every haggard fancy. At last +a horrible suspicion flashed suddenly across his mind, and he started +up with a frantic air. "Yes!" he exclaimed, looking wildly round his +dungeon, and shuddering as he spoke--"Yes! it must be so! I see it!--I +feel the maddening truth like scorching flames upon my brain! Eternal +God!--support me! it must be so!--Yes, yes, _that_ is to be my fate! +Yon roof will descend!--these walls will hem me round--and slowly, +slowly, crush me in their iron arms! Lord God! look down upon me, and +in mercy strike me with instant death! Oh, fiend--oh, devil--is this +your revenge?" + +He dashed himself upon the ground in agony;--tears burst from him, and +the sweat stood in large drops upon his face--he sobbed aloud--he tore +his hair--he rolled about like one suffering intolerable anguish of +body, and would have bitten the iron floor beneath him; he breathed +fearful curses upon Tolfi, and the next moment passionate prayers to +heaven for immediate death. Then the violence of his grief became +exhausted, and he lay still, weeping as a child would weep. The +twilight of departing day shed its gloom around him ere he arose from +that posture of utter and hopeless sorrow. He had taken no food. Not +one drop of water had cooled the fever of his parched lips. Sleep had +not visited his eyes for six-and-thirty hours. He was faint with +hunger; weary with watching, and with the excess of his emotions. He +tasted of his food; he drank with avidity of the water; and reeling +like a drunken man to his straw, cast himself upon it to brood again +over the appalling image that had fastened itself upon his almost +frenzied thoughts. + +He slept. But his slumbers were not tranquil. He resisted, as long as +he could, their approach; and when, at last, enfeebled nature yielded +to their influence, he found no oblivion from his cares. Terrible +dreams haunted him--ghastly visions harrowed up his imagination--he +shouted and screamed, as if he already felt the dungeon's ponderous +roof descending on him--he breathed hard and thick, as though writhing +between its iron walls. Then would he spring up--stare wildly about +him--stretch forth his hands, to be sure he yet had space enough to +live--and, muttering some incoherent words, sink down again, to pass +through the same fierce vicissitudes of delirious sleep. + +The morning of the fourth day dawned upon Vivenzio. But it was high +noon before his mind shook off its stupor, or he awoke to a full +consciousness of his situation. And what a fixed energy of despair sat +upon his pale features, as he cast his eyes upwards, and gazed upon +the THREE windows that now alone remained! The three!--there were no +more!--and they seemed to number his own allotted days. Slowly and +calmly he next surveyed the top and sides, and comprehended all the +meaning of the diminished height of the former, as well as of the +gradual approximation of the latter. The contracted dimensions of his +mysterious prison were now too gross and palpable to be the juggle of +his heated imagination. Still lost in wonder at the means, Vivenzio +could put no cheat upon his reason, as to the end. By what horrible +ingenuity it was contrived, that walls, and roof, and windows, should +thus silently and imperceptibly, without noise, and without motion +almost, fold, as it were, within each other, he knew not. He only +knew they did so; and he vainly strove to persuade himself it was the +intention of the contriver, to rack the miserable wretch who might be +immured there with anticipation, merely, of a fate, from which, in the +very crisis of his agony, he was to be reprieved. + +Gladly would he have clung even to this possibility, if his heart +would have let him; but he felt a dreadful assurance of its fallacy. +And what matchless inhumanity it was to doom the sufferer to such +lingering torments--to lead him day by day to so appalling a death, +unsupported by the consolations of religion, unvisited by any human +being, abandoned to himself, deserted of all, and denied even the sad +privilege of knowing that his cruel destiny would awaken pity! Alone +he was to perish!--alone he was to wait a slow coming torture, whose +most exquisite pangs would be inflicted by that very solitude and that +tardy coming! + +"It is not death I fear," he exclaimed, "but the death I must prepare +for! Methinks, too, I could meet even that--all horrible and revolting +as it is--if it might overtake me now. But where shall I find +fortitude to tarry till it come? How can I outlive the three long days +and nights I have to live? There is no power within me to bid the +hideous spectre hence--none to make it familiar to my thoughts; or +myself, patient of its errand. My thoughts, rather, will flee from me, +and I grow mad in looking at it. Oh! for a deep sleep to fall upon +me! That so, in death's likeness, I might embrace death itself, and +drink no more of the cup that is presented to me, than my fainting +spirit has already tasted!" + +In the midst of these lamentations, Vivenzio noticed that his +accustomed meal, with the pitcher of water, had been conveyed, as +before, into his dungeon. But this circumstance no longer excited his +surprise. His mind was overwhelmed with others of a far greater +magnitude. It suggested, however, a feeble hope of deliverance; and +there is no hope so feeble as not to yield some support to a heart +bending under despair. He resolved to watch, during the ensuing night, +for the signs he had before observed; and should he again feel the +gentle, tremulous motion of the floor, or the current of air, to seize +that moment for giving audible expression to his misery. Some person +must be near him, and within reach of his voice, at the instant when +his food was supplied; some one, perhaps, susceptible of pity. Or if +not, to be told even that his apprehensions were just, and that his +fate _was_ to be what he foreboded, would be preferable to a suspense +which hung upon the possibility of his worst fears being visionary. + +The night came; and as the hour approached when Vivenzio imagined he +might expect the signs, he stood fixed and silent as a statue. He +feared to breathe, almost, lest he might lose any sound which would +warn him of their coming. While thus listening, with every faculty of +mind and body strained to an agony of attention, it occurred to him he +should be more sensible of the motion, probably, if he stretched +himself along the iron floor. He accordingly laid himself softly down, +and had not been long in that position when--yes--he was certain of +it--the floor moved under him! He sprang up, and in a voice suffocated +nearly with emotion, called aloud. He paused--the motion ceased--he +felt no stream of air--all was hushed--no voice answered to his--he +burst into tears, and as he sank to the ground, in renewed anguish, +exclaimed--"Oh, my God! my God! You alone have power to save me now, +or strengthen me for the trial you permit." + +Another morning dawned upon the wretched captive, and the fatal index +of his doom met his eyes. Two windows!--and _two_ days--and all would +be over! Fresh food--fresh water! The mysterious visit had been paid, +though he had implored it in vain. But how awfully was his prayer +answered in what he now saw! The roof of the dungeon was within a foot +of his head. The two ends were so near, that in six paces he trod the +space between them. Vivenzio shuddered as he gazed, and as his steps +traversed the narrowed area. But his feelings no longer vented +themselves in frantic wailings. With folded arms, and clenched teeth, +with eyes that were bloodshot from much watching, and fixed with a +vacant glare upon the ground, with a hard quick breathing, and a +hurried walk, he strode backwards and forwards in silent musing for +several hours. What mind shall conceive, what tongue utter, or what +pen describe the dark and terrible character of his thoughts? Like the +fate that moulded them, they had no similitude in the wide range of +this world's agony for man. Suddenly he stopped, and his eyes were +riveted upon that part of the wall which was over his bed of straw. +Words are inscribed there! A human language, traced by a human hand! +He rushes towards them; but his blood freezes as he reads:-- + +"I, Ludovico Sforza, tempted by the gold of the Prince of Tolfi, spent +three years in contriving and executing this accursed triumph of my +art. When it was completed, the perfidious Tolfi, more devil than man, +who conducted me hither one morning, to be witness, as he said, of its +perfection, doomed me to be the first victim of my own pernicious +skill; lest, as he declared, I should divulge the secret, or repeat +the effort of my ingenuity. May God pardon him, as I hope he will me, +that ministered to his unhallowed purpose! Miserable wretch, whoe'er +thou art, that readest these lines, fall on thy knees, and invoke, as +I have done, His sustaining mercy, who alone can nerve thee to meet +the vengeance of Tolfi, armed with this tremendous engine which, in a +few hours, must crush _you_, as it will the needy wretch who made it." + +A deep groan burst from Vivenzio. He stood, like one transfixed, with +dilated eyes, expanded nostrils, and quivering lips, gazing at this +fatal inscription. It was as if a voice from the sepulchre had sounded +in his ears, "Prepare!" Hope forsook him. There was his sentence, +recorded in those dismal words. The future stood unveiled before him, +ghastly and appalling. His brain already feels the descending +horror--his bones seem to crack and crumble in the mighty grasp of the +iron walls! Unknowing what it is he does, he fumbles in his garment +for some weapon of self-destruction. He clenches his throat in his +convulsive gripe, as though he would strangle himself at once. He +stares upon the walls, and his warring spirit demands, "Will they not +anticipate their office if I dash my head against them?" An hysterical +laugh chokes him as he exclaims, "Why should I? He was but a man who +died first in their fierce embrace; and I should be less than man not +to do as much!" + +The evening sun was descending, and Vivenzio beheld its golden beams +streaming through one of the windows. What a thrill of joy shot +through his soul at the sight! It was a precious link, that united +him, for the moment, with the world beyond. There was ecstasy in the +thought. As he gazed, long and earnestly, it seemed as if the windows +had lowered sufficiently for him to reach them. With one bound he was +beneath them--with one wild spring he clung to the bars. Whether it +was so contrived, purposely to madden with delight the wretch who +looked, he knew not; but, at the extremity of a long vista, cut +through the solid rocks, the ocean, the sky, the setting sun, olive +groves, shady walks, and, in the farthest distance, delicious glimpses +of magnificent Sicily, burst upon his sight. How exquisite was the +cool breeze as it swept across his cheek, loaded with fragrance! He +inhaled it as though it were the breath of continued life. And there +was a freshness in the landscape, and in the rippling of the calm +green sea, that fell upon his withering heart like dew upon the +parched earth. How he gazed, and panted, and still clung to his hold! +sometimes hanging by one hand, sometimes by the other, and then +grasping the bars with both, as loth to quit the smiling paradise +outstretched before him; till exhausted, and his hands swollen and +benumbed, he dropped helpless down, and lay stunned for a considerable +time by the fall. + +When he recovered, the glorious vision had vanished. He was in +darkness. He doubted whether it was not a dream that had passed before +his sleeping fancy; but gradually his scattered thoughts returned, and +with them came remembrance. Yes! he had looked once again upon the +gorgeous splendour of nature! Once again his eyes had trembled +beneath their veiled lids, at the sun's radiance, and sought repose in +the soft verdure of the olive-tree, or the gentle swell of undulating +waves. Oh, that he were a mariner, exposed upon those waves to the +worst fury of storm and tempest; or a very wretch, loathsome with +disease, plague-stricken, and his body one leprous contagion from +crown to sole, hunted forth to gasp out the remnant of infectious life +beneath those verdant trees, so he might shun the destiny upon whose +edge he tottered! + +Vain thoughts like these would steal over his mind from time to time, +in spite of himself; but they scarcely moved it from that stupor into +which it had sunk, and which kept him, during the whole night, like +one who had been drugged with opium. He was equally insensible to the +calls of hunger and of thirst, though the third day was now commencing +since even a drop of water had passed his lips. He remained on the +ground, sometimes sitting, sometimes lying; at intervals, sleeping +heavily; and when not sleeping, silently brooding over what was to +come, or talking aloud, in disordered speech, of his wrongs, of his +friends, of his home, and of those he loved, with a confused mingling +of all. + +In this pitiable condition, the sixth and last morning dawned upon +Vivenzio, if dawn it might be called--the dim, obscure light which +faintly struggled through the ONE SOLITARY window of his dungeon. He +could hardly be said to notice the melancholy token. And yet he did +notice it; for as he raised his eyes and saw the portentous sign, +there was a slight convulsive distortion of his countenance. But what +did attract his notice, and at the sight of which his agitation was +excessive, was the change his iron bed had undergone. It was a bed no +longer. It stood before him, the visible semblance of a funeral couch +or bier! When he beheld this, he started from the ground; and, in +raising himself, suddenly struck his head against the roof, which was +now so low that he could no longer stand upright. "God's will be +done!" was all he said, as he crouched his body, and placed his hand +upon the bier; for such it was. The iron bedstead had been so +contrived, by the mechanical art of Ludovico Sforza, that as the +advancing walls came in contact with its head and feet, a pressure was +produced upon concealed springs, which, when made to play, set in +motion a very simple though ingeniously-contrived machinery, that +effected the transformation. The object was, of course, to heighten, +in the closing scene of this horrible drama, all the feelings of +despair and anguish, which the preceding ones had aroused. For the +same reason, the last window was so made as to admit only a shadowy +kind of gloom rather than light, that the wretched captive might be +surrounded, as it were, with every seeming preparation for +approaching death. + +Vivenzio seated himself on his bier. Then he knelt and prayed +fervently; and sometimes tears would gush from him. The air seemed +thick, and he breathed with difficulty; or it might be that he fancied +it was so, from the hot and narrow limits of his dungeon, which were +now so diminished that he could neither stand up nor lie down at his +full length. But his wasted spirits and oppressed mind no longer +struggled within him. He was past hope, and fear shook him no more. +Happy if thus revenge had struck its final blow; for he would have +fallen beneath it almost unconscious of a pang. But such a lethargy of +the soul, after such an excitement of its fiercest passions, had +entered into the diabolical calculations of Tolfi; and the fell +artificer of his designs had imagined a counteracting device. + +The tolling of an enormous bell struck upon the ears of Vivenzio! He +started. It beat but once. The sound was so close and stunning, that +it seemed to shatter his very brain, while it echoed through the rocky +passages like reverberating peals of thunder. This was followed by a +sudden crash of the roof and walls, as if they were about to fall upon +and close around him at once. Vivenzio screamed, and instinctively +spread forth his arms, as though he had a giant's strength to hold +them back. They had moved nearer to him, and were now motionless. +Vivenzio looked up, and saw the roof almost touching his head, even as +he sat cowering beneath it; and he felt that a farther contraction of +but a few inches only must commence the frightful operation. Roused as +he had been, he now gasped for breath. His body shook violently--he +was bent nearly double. His hands rested upon either wall, and his +feet were drawn under him to avoid the pressure in front. Thus he +remained for more than an hour, when that deafening bell beat again, +and again there came the crash of horrid death. But the concussion was +now so great that it struck Vivenzio down. As he lay gathered up in +lessened bulk, the bell beat loud and frequent--crash succeeded +crash--and on, and on, and on came the mysterious engine of death, +till Vivenzio's smothered groans were heard no more! He was horribly +crushed by the ponderous roof and collapsing sides--and the flattened +bier was his _Iron Shroud_. + + +PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Minor changes have been made to correct obvious typesetters' errors; +otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the authors' +words and intent. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tales from "Blackwood", by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD" *** + +***** This file should be named 31826-8.txt or 31826-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/8/2/31826/ + +Produced by D Alexander, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tales from "Blackwood" + +Author: Various + +Release Date: March 30, 2010 [EBook #31826] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD" *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h2>TALES</h2> + +<h3>FROM</h3> + +<h1>“BLACKWOOD”</h1> + +<div class="bbox centerbox"><h3>Contents of this Volume</h3> + +<p><a href="#TALES_FROM_BLACKWOOD"><i>The Glenmutchkin Railway.</i></a> <i>By Professor Aytoun</i></p> + +<p><a href="#VANDERDECKENS_MESSAGE_HOME"><i>Vanderdecken’s Message Home</i></a></p> + +<p><a href="#THE_FLOATING_BEACON"><i>The Floating Beacon</i></a></p> + +<p><a href="#COLONNA_THE_PAINTER"><i>Colonna the Painter</i></a></p> + +<p><a href="#NAPOLEON"><i>Napoleon.</i></a> <i>By J. G. Lockhart</i></p> + +<p><a href="#A_LEGEND_OF_GIBRALTAR"><i>A Legend of Gibraltar.</i></a> <i>By Col. E. B. Hamley</i></p> + +<p><a href="#THE_IRON_SHROUD"><i>The Iron Shroud.</i></a> <i>By William Mudford</i></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<h3>WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS</h3> + +<h4>EDINBURGH AND LONDON</h4> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="TALES_FROM_BLACKWOOD" id="TALES_FROM_BLACKWOOD"></a>TALES FROM “BLACKWOOD.”</h2> + +<p class="center">——◆——</p> + +<h2>HOW WE GOT UP THE GLENMUTCHKIN RAILWAY<br /> +AND HOW WE GOT OUT OF IT</h2> + +<h3>BY PROFESSOR AYTOUN.</h3> + +<h4>[<i>MAGA.</i> <span class="smcap">October 1845.</span>]</h4> + +<p>[The following Tale appeared in the Magazine for October 1845. It was +intended by the writer as a sketch of some of the more striking +features of the railway mania (then in full progress throughout Great +Britain), as exhibited in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Although bearing the +appearance of a burlesque, it was in truth an accurate delineation (as +will be acknowledged by many a gentleman who had the misfortune to be +“out in the Forty-five”); and subsequent disclosures have shown that +it was in no way exaggerated.</p> + +<p>Although the “Glenmutchkin line” was purely imaginary, and not +intended by the writer to apply to any particular scheme then before +the public, it was identified in Scotland with more than one reckless +and impracticable project; and even the characters introduced were +supposed to be typical of personages who had attained some notoriety +in the throng of speculation. Any such resemblances must be considered +as fortuitous; for the writer cannot charge himself with the +discourtesy of individual satire or allusion.]</p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span> was confoundedly hard up. My patrimony, never of the largest, had +been for the last year on the decrease—a herald would have emblazoned +it, “<span class="smcap">Argent</span>, a money-bag improper, in detriment”—and though the +attenuating process was not excessively <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>rapid, it was, nevertheless, +proceeding at a steady ratio. As for the ordinary means and appliances +by which men contrive to recruit their exhausted exchequers, I knew +none of them. Work I abhorred with a detestation worthy of a scion of +nobility; and, I believe, you could just as soon have persuaded the +lineal representative of the Howards or Percys to exhibit himself in +the character of a mountebank, as have got me to trust my person on +the pinnacle of a three-legged stool. The rule of three is all very +well for base mechanical souls; but I flatter myself I have an +intellect too large to be limited to a ledger. “Augustus,” said my +poor mother to me, while stroking my hyacinthine tresses, one fine +morning, in the very dawn and budding-time of my existence—“Augustus, +my dear boy, whatever you do, never forget that you are a gentleman.” +The maternal maxim sunk deeply into my heart, and I never for a moment +have forgotten it.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this aristocratic resolution, the great practical +question, “How am I to live?” began to thrust itself unpleasantly +before me. I am one of that unfortunate class who have neither uncles +nor aunts. For me, no yellow liverless individual, with characteristic +bamboo and pigtail—emblems of half-a-million—returned to his native +shores from Ceylon or remote Penang. For me, no venerable spinster +hoarded in the Trongate, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>permitting herself few luxuries during a +long-protracted life, save a lass and a lanthorn, a parrot, and the +invariable baudrons of antiquity. No such luck was mine. Had all +Glasgow perished by some vast epidemic, I should not have found myself +one farthing the richer. There would have been no golden balsam for me +in the accumulated woes of Tradestown, Shettleston, and Camlachie. The +time has been when—according to Washington Irving and other veracious +historians—a young man had no sooner got into difficulties than a +guardian angel appeared to him in a dream, with the information that +at such and such a bridge, or under such and such a tree, he might +find, at a slight expenditure of labour, a gallipot secured with +bladder, and filled with glittering tomauns; or in the extremity of +despair, the youth had only to append himself to a cord, and +straightway the other end thereof, forsaking its staple in the roof, +would disclose amidst the fractured ceiling the glories of a +profitable pose. These blessed days have long since gone by—at any +rate, no such luck was mine. My guardian angel was either woefully +ignorant of metallurgy or the stores had been surreptitiously +ransacked; and as to the other expedient, I frankly confess I should +have liked some better security for its result, than the precedent of +the “Heir of Lynn.”</p> + +<p>It is a great consolation amidst all the evils of life, to know that, +however bad your circumstances <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>may be, there is always somebody else +in nearly the same predicament. My chosen friend and ally, Bob +M‘Corkindale, was equally hard up with myself, and, if possible, more +averse to exertion. Bob was essentially a speculative man—that is, in +a philosophical sense. He had once got hold of a stray volume of Adam +Smith, and muddled his brains for a whole week over the intricacies of +the <i>Wealth of Nations</i>. The result was a crude farrago of notions +regarding the true nature of money, the soundness of currency, and +relative value of capital, with which he nightly favoured an admiring +audience at “The Crow;” for Bob was by no means—in the literal +acceptation of the word—a dry philosopher. On the contrary, he +perfectly appreciated the merits of each distinct distillery; and was +understood to be the compiler of a statistical work, entitled, <i>A Tour +through the Alcoholic Districts of Scotland</i>. It had very early +occurred to me, who knew as much of political economy as of the +bagpipes, that a gentleman so well versed in the art of accumulating +national wealth, must have some remote ideas of applying his +principles profitably on a smaller scale. Accordingly, I gave +M‘Corkindale an unlimited invitation to my lodgings; and, like a good +hearty fellow as he was, he availed himself every evening of the +license; for I had laid in a fourteen-gallon cask of Oban whisky, and +the quality of the malt was undeniable.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p><p>These were the first glorious days of general speculation. Railroads +were emerging from the hands of the greater into the fingers of the +lesser capitalists. Two successful harvests had given a fearful +stimulus to the national energy; and it appeared perfectly certain +that all the populous towns would be united, and the rich agricultural +districts intersected, by the magical bands of iron. The columns of +the newspapers teemed every week with the parturition of novel +schemes; and the shares were no sooner announced than they were +rapidly subscribed for. But what is the use of my saying anything more +about the history of last year? Every one of us remembers it perfectly +well. It was a capital year on the whole, and put money into many a +pocket. About that time, Bob and I commenced operations. Our available +capital, or negotiable bullion, in the language of my friend, amounted +to about three hundred pounds, which we set aside as a joint fund for +speculation. Bob, in a series of learned discourses, had convinced me +that it was not only folly, but a positive sin, to leave this sum +lying in the bank at a pitiful rate of interest, and otherwise +unemployed, whilst every one else in the kingdom was having a pluck at +the public pigeon. Somehow or other, we were unlucky in our first +attempts. Speculators are like wasps; for when they have once got hold +of a ripening and peach-like project, they keep it rigidly for their +own <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>swarm, and repel the approach of interlopers. Notwithstanding all +our efforts, and very ingenious ones they were, we never, in a single +instance, succeeded in procuring an allocation of original shares; and +though we did now and then make a hit by purchase, we more frequently +bought at a premium, and parted with our scrip at a discount. At the +end of six months, we were not twenty pounds richer than before.</p> + +<p>“This will never do,” said Bob, as he sat one evening in my rooms +compounding his second tumbler. “I thought we were living in an +enlightened age; but I find I was mistaken. That brutal spirit of +monopoly is still abroad and uncurbed. The principles of free-trade +are utterly forgotten, or misunderstood. Else how comes it that David +Spreul received but yesterday an allocation of two hundred shares in +the Westermidden Junction; whilst your application and mine, for a +thousand each, were overlooked? Is this a state of things to be +tolerated? Why should he, with his fifty thousand pounds, receive a +slapping premium, whilst our three hundred of available capital +remains unrepresented? The fact is monstrous, and demands the +immediate and serious interference of the legislature.”</p> + +<p>“It is a burning shame,” said I, fully alive to the manifold +advantages of a premium.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p><p>“I’ll tell you what, Dunshunner,” rejoined M‘Corkindale, “it’s no use +going on in this way. We haven’t shown half pluck enough. These +fellows consider us as snobs, because we don’t take the bull by the +horns. Now’s the time for a bold stroke. The public are quite ready to +subscribe for anything—and we’ll start a railway for ourselves.”</p> + +<p>“Start a railway with three hundred pounds of capital!”</p> + +<p>“Pshaw, man! you don’t know what you’re talking about—we’ve a great +deal more capital than that. Have not I told you seventy times over, +that everything a man has—his coat, his hat, the tumblers he drinks +from, nay, his very corporeal existence—is absolute marketable +capital? What do you call that fourteen-gallon cask, I should like to +know?”</p> + +<p>“A compound of hoops and staves, containing about a quart and a half +of spirits—you have effectually accounted for the rest.”</p> + +<p>“Then it has gone to the fund of profit and loss, that’s all. Never +let me hear you sport those old theories again. Capital is +indestructible, as I am ready to prove to you any day, in half an +hour. But let us sit down seriously to business. We are rich enough to +pay for the advertisements, and that is all we need care for in the +mean time. The public <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>is sure to step in, and bear us out handsomely +with the rest.”</p> + +<p>“But where in the face of the habitable globe shall the railway be? +England is out of the question, and I hardly know a spot in the +Lowlands that is not occupied already.”</p> + +<p>“What do you say to a Spanish scheme—the Alcantara Union? Hang me if +I know whether Alcantara is in Spain or Portugal; but nobody else +does, and the one is quite as good as the other. Or what would you +think of the Palermo Railway, with a branch to the sulphur +mines?—that would be popular in the North—or the Pyrenees Direct? +They would all go to a premium.”</p> + +<p>“I must confess I should prefer a line at home.”</p> + +<p>“Well, then, why not try the Highlands? There must be lots of traffic +there in the shape of sheep, grouse, and Cockney tourists, not to +mention salmon and other et-ceteras. Couldn’t we tip them a railway +somewhere in the west?”</p> + +<p>“There’s Glenmutchkin, for instance——”</p> + +<p>“Capital, my dear fellow! Glorious! By Jove, first-rate!” shouted Bob +in an ecstasy of delight. “There’s a distillery there, you know, and a +fishing-village at the foot—at least there used to be six years ago, +when I was living with the exciseman. There may be some bother about +the population, though. The last laird shipped every mother’s son <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>of +the aboriginal Celts to America; but, after all, that’s not of much +consequence. I see the whole thing! Unrivalled scenery—stupendous +waterfalls—herds of black cattle—spot where Prince Charles Edward +met Macgrugar of Glengrugar and his clan! We could not possibly have +lighted on a more promising place. Hand us over that sheet of paper, +like a good fellow, and a pen. There is no time to be lost, and the +sooner we get out the prospectus the better.”</p> + +<p>“But, heaven bless you, Bob, there’s a great deal to be thought of +first. Who are we to get for a Provisional Committee?”</p> + +<p>“That’s very true,” said Bob, musingly. “We <i>must</i> treat them to some +respectable names, that is, good sounding ones. I’m afraid there is +little chance of our producing a Peer to begin with?”</p> + +<p>“None whatever—unless we could invent one, and that’s hardly +safe—<i>Burke’s Peerage</i> has gone through too many editions. Couldn’t +we try the Dormants?”</p> + +<p>“That would be rather dangerous in the teeth of the standing orders. +But what do you say to a baronet? There’s Sir Polloxfen Tremens. He +got himself served the other day to a Nova Scotia baronetcy, with just +as much title as you or I have; and he has sported the riband, and +dined out on the strength of it ever since. He’ll join us at once, for +he has not a sixpence to lose.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p><p>“Down with him, then,” and we headed the Provisional list with the +pseudo Orange-tawny.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Bob, “it’s quite indispensable, as this is a Highland +line, that we should put forward a Chief or two. That has always a +great effect upon the English, whose feudal notions are rather of the +mistiest, and principally derived from Waverley.”</p> + +<p>“Why not write yourself down as the Laird of M‘Corkindale?” said I. “I +daresay you would not be negatived by a counter-claim.”</p> + +<p>“That would hardly do,” replied Bob, “as I intend to be Secretary. +After all, what’s the use of thinking about it? Here goes for an +extempore Chief;” and the villain wrote down the name of Tavish +M‘Tavish of Invertavish.</p> + +<p>“I say, though,” said I, “we must have a real Highlander on the list. +If we go on this way, it will become a Justiciary matter.”</p> + +<p>“You’re devilish scrupulous, Gus,” said Bob, who, if left to himself, +would have stuck in the names of the heathen gods and goddesses, or +borrowed his directors from the Ossianic chronicles, rather than have +delayed the prospectus. “Where the mischief are we to find the men? I +can think of no others likely to go the whole hog; can you?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know a single Celt in Glasgow except old M‘Closkie, the +drunken porter at the corner of Jamaica Street.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p><p>“He’s the very man! I suppose, after the manner of his tribe, he will +do anything for a pint of whisky. But what shall we call him? Jamaica +Street, I fear, will hardly do for a designation.”</p> + +<p>“Call him <span class="smcap">The M‘Closkie</span>. It will be sonorous in the ears of the +Saxon!”</p> + +<p>“Bravo!” and another Chief was added to the roll of the clans.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Bob, “we must put you down. Recollect, all the +management—that is, the allocation—will be intrusted to you. +Augustus—you haven’t a middle name, I think?—well, then, suppose we +interpolate ‘Reginald;’ it has a smack of the Crusades. Augustus +Reginald Dunshunner, Esq. of—where, in the name of Munchausen!”</p> + +<p>“I’m sure I don’t know. I never had any land beyond the contents of a +flower-pot. Stay—I rather think I have a superiority somewhere about +Paisley.”</p> + +<p>“Just the thing,” cried Bob. “It’s heritable property, and therefore +titular. What’s the denomination?”</p> + +<p>“St Mirrens.”</p> + +<p>“Beautiful! Dunshunner of St Mirrens, I give you joy! Had you +discovered that a little sooner—and I wonder you did not think of +it—we might both of us have had lots of allocations. These are not +the times to conceal hereditary distinctions. But now comes the +serious work. We must have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>one or two men of known wealth upon the +list. The chaff is nothing without a decoy-bird. Now, can’t you help +me with a name?”</p> + +<p>“In that case,” said I, “the game is up, and the whole scheme +exploded. I would as soon undertake to evoke the Ghost of Crœsus.”</p> + +<p>“Dunshunner,” said Bob very seriously, “to be a man of information, +you are possessed of marvellous few resources. I am quite ashamed of +you. Now listen to me. I have thought deeply upon this subject, and am +quite convinced that, with some little trouble, we may secure the +co-operation of a most wealthy and influential body—one, too, that is +generally supposed to have stood aloof from all speculation of the +kind, and whose name would be a tower of strength in the moneyed +quarters. I allude,” continued Bob, reaching across for the kettle, +“to the great Dissenting Interest.”</p> + +<p>“The what?” cried I, aghast.</p> + +<p>“The great Dissenting Interest. You can’t have failed to observe the +row they have lately been making about Sunday travelling and +education. Old Sam Sawley, the coffin-maker, is their principal +spokesman here; and wherever he goes the rest will follow, like a +flock of sheep bounding after a patriarchal ram. I propose, therefore, +to wait upon him to-morrow, and request his co-operation in a scheme +which is not only to prove profitable, but to make head against the +lax principles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>of the present age. Leave me alone to tickle him. I +consider his name, and those of one or two others belonging to the +same meeting-house—fellows with bank-stock, and all sorts of tin, as +perfectly secure. These dissenters smell a premium from an almost +incredible distance. We can fill up the rest of the committee with +ciphers, and the whole thing is done.”</p> + +<p>“But the engineer—we must announce such an officer as a matter of +course.”</p> + +<p>“I never thought of that,” said Bob. “Couldn’t we hire a fellow from +one of the steamboats?”</p> + +<p>“I fear that might get us into trouble: You know there are such things +as gradients and sections to be prepared. But there’s Watty Solder, +the gas-fitter, who failed the other day. He’s a sort of civil +engineer by trade, and will jump at the proposal like a trout at the +tail of a May fly.”</p> + +<p>“Agreed. Now, then, let’s fix the number of shares. This is our first +experiment, and I think we ought to be moderate. No sound political +economist is avaricious. Let us say twelve thousand, at twenty pounds +a-piece.”</p> + +<p>“So be it.”</p> + +<p>“Well, then, that’s arranged. I’ll see Sawley and the rest to-morrow; +settle with Solder, and then write out the prospectus. You look in +upon me in the evening, and we’ll revise it together. Now, by your +leave, let’s have in the Welsh rabbit <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>and another tumbler to drink +success and prosperity to the Glenmutchkin Railway.”</p> + +<p>I confess that, when I rose on the morrow, with a slight headache and +a tongue indifferently parched, I recalled to memory, not without +perturbation of conscience, and some internal qualms, the conversation +of the previous evening. I felt relieved, however, after two spoonfuls +of carbonate of soda, and a glance at the newspaper, wherein I +perceived the announcement of no less than four other schemes equally +preposterous with our own. But, after all, what right had I to assume +that the Glenmutchkin project would prove an ultimate failure? I had +not a scrap of statistical information that might entitle me to form +such an opinion. At any rate, Parliament, by substituting the Board of +Trade as an initiating body of inquiry, had created a responsible +tribunal, and freed us from the chance of obloquy. I saw before me a +vision of six months’ steady gambling, at manifest advantage, in the +shares, before a report could possibly be pronounced, or our +proceedings be in any way overhauled. Of course I attended that +evening punctually at my friend M‘Corkindale’s. Bob was in high +feather; for Sawley no sooner heard of the principles upon which the +railway was to be conducted, and his own nomination as a director, +than he gave in his adhesion, and promised his unflinching support to +the uttermost. The Prospectus ran as follows:—</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><h3>“DIRECT GLENMUTCHKIN RAILWAY.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">In 12,000 shares of £20 each. Deposit £1 per Share</span></h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Provisional Committee.</i></p> + +<p>SIR POLLOXFEN TREMENS, Bart. of Toddymains.<br /> +TAVISH M‘TAVISH of Invertavish.<br /> +THE M‘CLOSKIE.<br /> +AUGUSTUS REGINALD DUNSHUNNER, Esq. of St Mirrens.<br /> +SAMUEL SAWLEY, Esq., Merchant.<br /> +MHIC-MHAC-VICH-INDUIBH.<br /> +PHELIM O’FINLAN, Esq. of Castle-rook, Ireland.<br /> +THE CAPTAIN of M‘ALCOHOL.<br /> +FACTOR for GLENTUMBLERS.<br /> +JOHN JOB JOBSON, Esq., Manufacturer.<br /> +EVAN M‘CLAW of Glenscart and Inveryewky.<br /> +JOSEPH HECKLES, Esq.<br /> +HABBAKUK GRABBIE, Portioner in Ramoth-Drumclog.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Engineer</i>—WALTER SOLDER, Esq.<br /> +<i>Interim-Secretary</i>—ROBERT M‘CORKINDALE, Esq.</p> + +<p>“The necessity of a direct line of Railway communication +through the fertile and populous district known as the +<span class="smcap">Valley</span> of <span class="smcap">Glenmutchkin</span>, has been long felt and universally +acknowledged. Independently of the surpassing grandeur of +its mountain scenery, which shall immediately be referred +to, and other considerations of even greater importance, +<span class="smcap">Glenmutchkin</span> is known to the capitalist as the most +important <small>BREEDING STATION</small> in the Highlands of Scotland, and +indeed as the great emporium from which the southern markets +are supplied. It has been calculated by a most eminent +authority, that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>every acre in the strath is capable of +rearing twenty head of cattle; and, as has been ascertained +after a careful admeasurement, that there are not less than +<span class="smcap">Two Hundred Thousand</span> improvable acres immediately contiguous +to the proposed line of Railway, it may confidently be +assumed that the number of cattle to be conveyed along the +line will amount to <span class="smcap">Four Millions</span> annually, which, at the +lowest estimate, would yield a revenue larger, in proportion +to the capital subscribed, than that of any Railway as yet +completed within the United Kingdom. From this estimate the +traffic in Sheep and Goats, with which the mountains are +literally covered, has been carefully excluded, it having +been found quite impossible (from its extent) to compute the +actual revenue to be drawn from that most important branch. +It may, however, be roughly assumed as from seventeen to +nineteen per cent upon the whole, after deduction of the +working expenses.</p> + +<p>“The population of Glenmutchkin is extremely dense. Its +situation on the west coast has afforded it the means of +direct communication with America, of which for many years +the inhabitants have actively availed themselves. Indeed, +the amount of exportation of live stock from this part of +the Highlands to the Western continent, has more than once +attracted the attention of Parliament. The Manufactures are +large and comprehensive, and include the most famous +distilleries in the world. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>Minerals are most abundant, +and amongst these may be reckoned quartz, porphyry, felspar, +malachite, manganese, and basalt.</p> + +<p>“At the foot of the valley, and close to the sea, lies the +important village known as the <span class="smcap">Clachan</span> of <span class="smcap">Inverstarve</span>. It is +supposed by various eminent antiquaries to have been the +capital of the Picts, and, amongst the busy inroads of +commercial prosperity, it still retains some interesting +traces of its former grandeur. There is a large fishing +station here, to which vessels from every nation resort, and +the demand for foreign produce is daily and steadily +increasing.</p> + +<p>“As a sporting country Glenmutchkin is unrivalled; but it is +by the tourists that its beauties will most greedily be +sought. These consist of every combination which plastic +nature can afford—cliffs of unusual magnitude and +grandeur—waterfalls only second to the sublime cascades of +Norway—woods, of which the bark is a remarkable valuable +commodity. It need scarcely be added, to rouse the +enthusiasm inseparable from this glorious glen, that here, +in 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, then in the zenith of +his hopes, was joined by the brave Sir Grugar M‘Grugar at +the head of his devoted clan.</p> + +<p>“The Railway will be twelve miles long, and can be completed +within six months after the Act of Parliament is obtained. +The gradients are easy, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>and the curves obtuse. There are no +viaducts of any importance, and only four tunnels along the +whole length of the line. The shortest of these does not +exceed a mile and a half.</p> + +<p>“In conclusion, the projectors of this Railway beg to state +that they have determined, as a principle, to set their face +<span class="smcap">against all Sunday Travelling whatsoever</span>, and to oppose +<small>EVERY BILL</small> which may hereafter be brought into Parliament, +unless it shall contain a clause to that effect. It is also +their intention to take up the cause of the poor and +neglected <span class="smcap">Stoker</span>, for whose accommodation, and social, +moral, religious, and intellectual improvement, a large +stock of evangelical tracts will speedily be required. +Tenders of these, in quantities of not less than 12,000, may +be sent in to the Interim Secretary. Shares must be applied +for within ten days from the present date.</p> + +<p class="right"><span style="margin-right: 1.5em;">“By order of the Provisional Committee,</span><br /> +“<span class="smcap">Robt. M‘Corkindale</span>, <i>Secretary</i>.”</p></div> + +<p>“There!” said Bob, slapping down the prospectus on the table, with as +much triumph as if it had been the original of Magna Charta—“What do +you think of that? If it doesn’t do the business effectually, I shall +submit to be called a Dutchman. That last touch about the stoker will +bring us in the subscriptions of the old ladies by the score.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p><p>“Very masterly, indeed,” said I. “But who the deuce is +Mhic-Mhac-vich-Induibh?”</p> + +<p>“A <i>bona fide</i> chief, I assure you, though a little reduced: I picked +him up upon the Broomielaw. His grandfather had an island somewhere to +the west of the Hebrides; but it is not laid down in the maps.”</p> + +<p>“And the Captain of M‘Alcohol?”</p> + +<p>“A crack distiller.”</p> + +<p>“And the Factor for Glentumblers?”</p> + +<p>“His principal customer. But, bless you, my dear St Mirrens! don’t +bother yourself any more about the committee. They are as respectable +a set—on paper at least—as you would wish to see of a summer’s +morning, and the beauty of it is that they will give us no manner of +trouble. Now about the allocation. You and I must restrict ourselves +to a couple of thousand shares a-piece. That’s only a third of the +whole, but it won’t do to be greedy.”</p> + +<p>“But, Bob, consider! Where on earth are we to find the money to pay up +the deposits?”</p> + +<p>“Can you, the principal director of the Glenmutchkin Railway, ask me, +the secretary, such a question? Don’t you know that any of the banks +will give us tick to the amount ‘of half the deposits.’ All that is +settled already, and you can get your two thousand pounds whenever you +please merely for the signing of a bill. Sawley must get a thousand +according to stipulation—Jobson, Heckles, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>and Grabbie, at least five +hundred a-piece, and another five hundred, I should think, will +exhaust the remaining means of the committee. So that, out of our +whole stock, there remain just five thousand shares to be allocated to +the speculative and evangelical public. My eyes! won’t there be a +scramble for them!”</p> + +<p>Next day our prospectus appeared in the newspapers. It was read, +canvassed, and generally approved of. During the afternoon, I took an +opportunity of looking into the Tontine, and whilst under shelter of +the <i>Glasgow Herald</i>, my ears were solaced with such ejaculations as +the following:—</p> + +<p>“I say, Jimsy, hae ye seen this grand new prospectus for a railway tae +Glenmutchkin?”</p> + +<p>“Ay—it looks no that ill. The Hieland lairds are pitting their best +fit foremost. Will ye apply for shares?”</p> + +<p>“I think I’ll tak’ twa hundred. Wha’s Sir Polloxfen Tremens?”</p> + +<p>“He’ll be yin o’ the Ayrshire folk. He used to rin horses at the +Paisley races.”</p> + +<p>(“The devil he did!” thought I.)</p> + +<p>“D’ye ken ony o’ the directors, Jimsy?”</p> + +<p>“I ken Sawley fine. Ye may depend on’t, it’s a gude thing if he’s +in’t, for he’s a howkin’ body.”</p> + +<p>“Then it’s sure to gae up. What prem. d’ye think it will bring?”</p> + +<p>“Twa pund a share, and maybe mair.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p><p>“’Od, I’ll apply for three hundred!”</p> + +<p>“Heaven bless you, my dear countrymen!” thought I as I sallied forth +to refresh myself with a basin of soup, “do but maintain this liberal +and patriotic feeling—this thirst for national improvement, internal +communication, and premiums—a short while longer, and I know whose +fortune will be made.”</p> + +<p>On the following morning my breakfast-table was covered with shoals of +letters, from fellows whom I scarcely ever had spoken to—or who, to +use a franker phraseology, had scarcely ever condescended to speak to +me—entreating my influence as a director to obtain them shares in the +new undertaking. I never bore malice in my life, so I chalked them +down, without favouritism, for a certain proportion. Whilst engaged in +this charitable work, the door flew open, and M‘Corkindale, looking +utterly haggard with excitement, rushed in.</p> + +<p>“You may buy an estate whenever you please, Dunshunner,” cried he, +“the world’s gone perfectly mad! I have been to Blazes the broker, and +he tells me that the whole amount of the stock has been subscribed for +four times over already, and he has not yet got in the returns from +Edinburgh and Liverpool!”</p> + +<p>“Are they good names though, Bob—sure cards—none of your M‘Closkies, +and M‘Alcohols?”</p> + +<p>“The first names in the city, I assure you, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>most of them holders +for investment. I wouldn’t take ten millions for their capital.”</p> + +<p>“Then the sooner we close the list the better.”</p> + +<p>“I think so too. I suspect a rival company will be out before long. +Blazes says the shares are selling already conditionally on allotment, +at seven-and-sixpence premium.”</p> + +<p>“The deuce they are! I say, Bob, since we have the cards in our hands, +would it not be wise to favour them with a few hundreds at that rate? +A bird in the hand, you know, is worth two in the bush, eh?”</p> + +<p>“I know no such maxim in political economy,” replied the secretary. +“Are you mad, Dunshunner? How are the shares ever to go up, if it gets +wind that the directors are selling already? Our business just now, is +to <i>bull</i> the line, not to <i>bear</i> it; and if you will trust me, I +shall show them such an operation on the ascending scale, as the Stock +Exchange has not witnessed for this long and many a day. Then, +to-morrow, I shall advertise in the papers that the committee, having +received applications for ten times the amount of stock, have been +compelled, unwillingly, to close the lists. That will be a slap in the +face to the dilatory gentlemen, and send up the shares like wildfire.”</p> + +<p>Bob was right. No sooner did the advertisement appear, than a +simultaneous groan was uttered by some hundreds of disappointed +speculators, who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>with unwonted and unnecessary caution had been +anxious to see their way a little before committing themselves to our +splendid enterprise. In consequence, they rushed into the market, with +intense anxiety to make what terms they could at the earliest stage, +and the seven-and-sixpence of premium was doubled in the course of a +forenoon.</p> + +<p>The allocation passed over very peaceably. Sawley, Heckles, Jobson, +Grabbie, and the Captain of M‘Alcohol, besides myself, attended, and +took part in the business. We were also threatened with the presence +of the M‘Closkie and Vich-Induibh; but M‘Corkindale, entertaining some +reasonable doubts as to the effect which their corporeal appearance +might have upon the representatives of the dissenting interest, had +taken the precaution to get them snugly housed in a tavern, where an +unbounded supply of gratuitous Ferintosh deprived us of the benefit of +their experience. We, however, allotted them twenty shares a-piece. +Sir Polloxfen Tremens sent a handsome, though rather illegible letter +of apology, dated from an island in Lochlomond, where he was said to +be detained on particular business.</p> + +<p>Mr Sawley, who officiated as our chairman, was kind enough, before +parting, to pass a very flattering eulogium upon the excellence and +candour of all the preliminary arrangements. It would now, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>he said, +go forth to the public that this line was not, like some others he +could mention, a mere bubble, emanating from the stank of private +interest, but a solid, lasting superstructure, based upon the +principles of sound return for capital, and serious evangelical truth +(hear, hear). The time was fast approaching, when the gravestone, with +the words “<span class="smcap">Hic</span> <small>OBIIT</small>” chiselled upon it, would be placed at the head +of all the other lines which rejected the grand opportunity of +conveying education to the stoker. The stoker, in his (Mr Sawley’s) +opinion, had a right to ask the all-important question, “Am I not a +man and a brother?” (Cheers). Much had been said and written lately +about a work called <i>Tracts for the Times</i>. With the opinions +contained in that publication he was not conversant, as it was +conducted by persons of another community from that to which he (Mr +Sawley) had the privilege to belong. But he hoped very soon, under the +auspices of the Glenmutchkin Railway Company, to see a new periodical +established, under the title of <i>Tracts for the Trains</i>. He never for +a moment would relax his efforts to knock a nail into the coffin, +which, he might say, was already made, and measured, and cloth-covered +for the reception of all establishments; and with these sentiments, +and the conviction that the shares must rise, could it be doubted that +he would remain a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>fast friend to the interests of this Company for +ever? (Much cheering.)</p> + +<p>After having delivered this address, Mr Sawley affectionately squeezed +the hands of his brother directors, and departed, leaving several of +us much overcome. As, however, M‘Corkindale had told me that every one +of Sawley’s shares had been disposed of in the market the day before, +I felt less compunction at having refused to allow that excellent man +an extra thousand beyond the amount he had applied for, +notwithstanding of his broadest hints, and even private entreaties.</p> + +<p>“Confound the greedy hypocrite!” said Bob; “does he think we shall let +him Burke the line for nothing? No—no! I let him go to the brokers +and buy his shares back, if he thinks they are likely to rise. I’ll be +bound he has made a cool five hundred out of them already.”</p> + +<p>On the day which succeeded the allocation, the following entry +appeared in the Glasgow share-lists. “Direct Glenmutchkin Railway 15s. +15s. 6d. 15s. 6d. 16s. 15s. 6d. 16s. 16s. 6d. 16s. 6d. 16s. 17s. 18s. +18s. 19s. 6d. 21s. 21s. 22s. 6d. 24s. 25s. 6d. 27s. 29s. 29s. 6d. 30s. +31s. p<sup>m</sup>.”</p> + +<p>“They might go higher, and they ought to go higher,” said Bob +musingly; “but there’s not much more stock to come and go upon, and +these two share-sharks, Jobson and Grabbie, I know, will be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>in the +market to-morrow. We must not let them have the whip-hand of us. I +think upon the whole, Dunshunner, though it’s letting them go dog +cheap, that we ought to sell half our shares at the present premium, +whilst there is a certainty of getting it.”</p> + +<p>“Why not sell the whole? I’m sure I have no objections to part with +every stiver of the scrip on such terms.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps,” said Bob, “upon general principles you may be right; but +then remember that we have a vested interest in the line.”</p> + +<p>“Vested interest be hanged!”</p> + +<p>“That’s very well—at the same time it is no use to kill your salmon +in a hurry. The bulls have done their work pretty well for us, and we +ought to keep something on hand for the bears; they are snuffing at it +already. I could almost swear that some of those fellows who have sold +to-day are working for a time-bargain.”</p> + +<p>We accordingly got rid of a couple of thousand shares, the proceeds of +which not only enabled us to discharge the deposit loan, but left us a +material surplus. Under these circumstances, a two-handed banquet was +proposed and unanimously carried, the commencement of which I +distinctly remember, but am rather dubious as to the end. So many +stories have lately been circulated to the prejudice of railway +directors, that I think it my duty to state that this entertainment +was scrupulously defrayed by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>ourselves, and <i>not</i> carried to account, +either of the preliminary survey, or the expenses of the provisional +committee.</p> + +<p>Nothing effects so great a metamorphosis in the bearing of the outer +man, as a sudden change of fortune. The anemone of the garden differs +scarcely more from its unpretending prototype of the woods, than +Robert M‘Corkindale, Esq., Secretary and Projector of the Glenmutchkin +Railway, differed from Bob M‘Corkindale, the seedy frequenter of “The +Crow.” In the days of yore, men eyed the surtout—napless at the +velvet collar, and preternaturally white at the seams—which Bob +vouchsafed to wear, with looks of dim suspicion, as if some faint +reminiscence, similar to that which is said to recall the memory of a +former state of existence, suggested to them a notion that the garment +had once been their own. Indeed, his whole appearance was then +wonderfully second-hand. Now he had cast his slough. A most undeniable +Taglioni, with trimmings just bordering upon frogs, gave dignity to +his demeanour and twofold amplitude to his chest. The horn eyeglass +was exchanged for one of purest gold, the dingy high-lows for +well-waxed Wellingtons, the Paisley fogle for the fabric of the China +loom. Moreover, he walked with a swagger, and affected in common +conversation a peculiar dialect which he opined to be the purest +English, but which no one—except a bagman—could be reasonably +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>expected to understand. His pockets were invariably crammed with +share-lists; and he quoted, if he did not comprehend, the money +article from the <i>Times</i>. This sort of assumption, though very +ludicrous in itself, goes down wonderfully. Bob gradually became a +sort of authority, and his opinions got quoted on ’Change. He was no +ass, notwithstanding his peculiarities, and made good use of his +opportunity.</p> + +<p>For myself, I bore my new dignities with an air of modest meekness. A +certain degree of starchness is indispensable for a railway director, +if he means to go forward in his high calling and prosper; he must +abandon all juvenile eccentricities, and aim at the appearance of a +decided enemy to free trade in the article of Wild Oats. Accordingly, +as the first step towards respectability, I eschewed coloured +waistcoats, and gave out that I was a marrying man. No man under +forty, unless he is a positive idiot, will stand forth as a +theoretical bachelor. It is all nonsense to say that there is anything +unpleasant in being courted. Attention, whether from male or female, +tickles the vanity; and although I have a reasonable, and, I hope, not +unwholesome regard for the gratification of my other appetites, I +confess that this same vanity is by far the most poignant of the +whole. I therefore surrendered myself freely to the soft allurements +thrown in my way by such matronly denizens of Glasgow as were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>possessed of stock in the shape of marriageable daughters; and walked +the more readily into their toils, because every party, though +nominally for the purposes of tea, wound up with a hot supper, and +something hotter still by way of assisting the digestion.</p> + +<p>I don’t know whether it was my determined conduct at the allocation, +my territorial title, or a most exaggerated idea of my circumstances, +that worked upon the mind of Mr Sawley. Possibly it was a combination +of the three; but sure enough few days had elapsed before I received a +formal card of invitation to a tea and serious conversation. Now +serious conversation is a sort of thing that I never shone in, +possibly because my early studies were framed in a different +direction; but as I really was unwilling to offend the respectable +coffin-maker, and as I found that the Captain of M‘Alcohol—a decided +trump in his way—had also received a summons, I notified my +acceptance.</p> + +<p>M‘Alcohol and I went together. The Captain, an enormous brawny Celt, +with superhuman whiskers, and a shock of the fieriest hair, had figged +himself out, <i>more majorum</i>, in the full Highland costume. I never saw +Rob Roy on the stage look half so dignified or ferocious. He glittered +from head to foot, with dirk, pistol, and skean-dhu, and at least a +hundred-weight of cairngorms cast a prismatic glory around his person. +I felt quite abashed beside him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p><p>We were ushered into Mr Sawley’s drawing-room. Round the walls, and at +considerable distances from each other, were seated about a dozen +characters, male and female, all of them dressed in sable, and wearing +countenances of woe. Sawley advanced, and wrung me by the hand with so +piteous an expression of visage, that I could not help thinking some +awful catastrophe had just befallen his family.</p> + +<p>“You are welcome, Mr Dunshunner—welcome to my humble tabernacle. Let +me present you to Mrs Sawley”—and a lady, who seemed to have bathed +in the Yellow Sea, rose from her seat, and favoured me with a profound +curtsy.</p> + +<p>“My daughter—Miss Selina Sawley.”</p> + +<p>I felt in my brain the scorching glance of the two darkest eyes it +ever was my fortune to behold, as the beauteous Selina looked up from +the perusal of her handkerchief hem. It was a pity that the other +features were not corresponding; for the nose was flat, and the mouth +of such dimensions, that a Harlequin might have jumped down it with +impunity—but the eyes <i>were</i> splendid.</p> + +<p>In obedience to a sign from the hostess, I sank into a chair beside +Selina; and not knowing exactly what to say, hazarded some observation +about the weather.</p> + +<p>“Yes, it is indeed a suggestive season. How deeply, Mr Dunshunner, we +ought to feel the pensive progress of autumn towards a soft and +premature <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>decay! I always think, about this time of the year, that +nature is falling into a consumption!”</p> + +<p>“To be sure, ma’am,” said I, rather taken aback by this style of +colloquy, “the trees are looking devilishly hectic.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, you have remarked that too! Strange! it was but yesterday that I +was wandering through Kelvin Grove, and as the phantom breeze brought +down the withered foliage from the spray, I thought how probable it +was that they might ere long rustle over young and glowing hearts +deposited prematurely in the tomb!”</p> + +<p>This, which struck me as a very passable imitation of Dickens’s +pathetic writings, was a poser. In default of language, I looked Miss +Sawley straight in the face, and attempted a substitute for a sigh. I +was rewarded with a tender glance.</p> + +<p>“Ah!” said she, “I see you are a congenial spirit. How delightful, and +yet how rare it is to meet with any one who thinks in unison with +yourself! Do you ever walk in the Necropolis, Mr Dunshunner? It is my +favourite haunt of a morning. There we can wean ourselves, as it were, +from life, and, beneath the melancholy yew and cypress, anticipate the +setting star. How often there have I seen the procession—the funeral +of some very, very little child”——</p> + +<p>“Selina, my love,” said Mrs Sawley, “have the kindness to ring for the +cookies.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p><p>I, as in duty bound, started up to save the fair enthusiast the +trouble, and was not sorry to observe my seat immediately occupied by +a very cadaverous gentleman, who was evidently jealous of the progress +I was rapidly making. Sawley, with an air of great mystery, informed +me that this was a Mr Dalgleish of Raxmathrapple, the representative +of an ancient Scottish family who claimed an important heritable +office. The name, I thought, was familiar to me, but there was +something in the appearance of Mr Dalgleish which, notwithstanding the +smiles of Miss Selina, rendered a rivalship in that quarter utterly +out of the question.</p> + +<p>I hate injustice, so let me do due honour in description to the Sawley +banquet. The tea-urn most literally corresponded to its name. The +table was decked out with divers platters, containing seed-cakes cut +into rhomboids, almond biscuits, and ratafia drops. Also, on the +sideboard, there were two salvers, each of which contained a +congregation of glasses, filled with port and sherry. The former +fluid, as I afterwards ascertained, was of the kind advertised as +“curious,” and proffered for sale at the reasonable rate of sixteen +shillings per dozen. The banquet, on the whole, was rather peculiar +than enticing; and, for the life of me, I could not divest myself of +the idea that the selfsame viands had figured, not long before, as +funeral refreshments at a dirgie. No such suspicion seemed to cross +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>the mind of M‘Alcohol, who hitherto had remained uneasily surveying +his nails in a corner, but at the first symptom of food started +forwards, and was in the act of making a clean sweep of the china, +when Sawley proposed the singular preliminary of a hymn.</p> + +<p>The hymn was accordingly sung. I am thankful to say it was such a one +as I never heard before, or expect to hear again; and unless it was +composed by the Reverend Saunders Peden in an hour of paroxysm on the +moors, I cannot conjecture the author. After this original symphony, +tea was discussed, and after tea, to my amazement, more hot +brandy-and-water than I ever remember to have seen circulated at the +most convivial party. Of course this effected a radical change in the +spirits and conversation of the circle. It was again my lot to be +placed by the side of the fascinating Selina, whose sentimentality +gradually thawed away beneath the influence of sundry sips, which she +accepted with a delicate reluctance. This time Dalgleish of +Raxmathrapple had not the remotest chance. M‘Alcohol got furious, sang +Gaelic songs, and even delivered a sermon in genuine Erse, without +incurring a rebuke; whilst, for my own part, I must needs confess that +I waxed unnecessarily amorous, and the last thing I recollect was the +pressure of Mr Sawley’s hand at the door, as he denominated me his +dear boy, and hoped I would soon come back <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>and visit Mrs Sawley and +Selina. The recollection of these passages next morning was the surest +antidote to my return.</p> + +<p>Three weeks had elapsed, and still the Glenmutchkin Railway shares +were at a premium, though rather lower than when we sold. Our +engineer, Watty Solder, returned from his first survey of the line, +along with an assistant who really appeared to have some remote +glimmerings of the science and practice of mensuration. It seemed, +from a verbal report, that the line was actually practicable; and the +survey would have been completed in a very short time—“If,” according +to the account of Solder, “there had been ae hoos in the glen. But +ever sin’ the distillery stoppit—and that was twa year last +Martinmas—there wasna a hole whaur a Christian could lay his head, +muckle less get white sugar to his toddy, forbye the change-house at +the clachan; and the auld luckie that keepit it was sair forfochten +wi’ the palsy, and maist in the dead-thraws. There was naebody else +living within twal miles o’ the line, barring a taxman, a lamiter, and +a bauldie.”</p> + +<p>We had some difficulty in preventing Mr Solder from making this report +open and patent to the public, which premature disclosure might have +interfered materially with the preparation of our traffic tables, not +to mention the marketable value of the shares. We therefore kept him +steadily at work out of Glasgow, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>upon a very liberal allowance, to +which, apparently, he did not object.</p> + +<p>“Dunshunner,” said M‘Corkindale to me one day, “I suspect that there +is something going on about our railway more than we are aware of. +Have you observed that the shares are preternaturally high just now?”</p> + +<p>“So much the better. Let’s sell.”</p> + +<p>“I did so this morning—both yours and mine, at two pounds ten +shillings premium.”</p> + +<p>“The deuce you did! Then we’re out of the whole concern.”</p> + +<p>“Not quite. If my suspicions are correct, there’s a good deal more +money yet to be got from the speculation. Somebody has been bulling +the stock without orders; and, as they can have no information which +we are not perfectly up to, depend upon it, it is done for a purpose. +I suspect Sawley and his friends. They have never been quite happy +since the allocation; and I caught him yesterday pumping our broker in +the back shop. We’ll see in a day or two. If they are beginning a +bearing operation, I know how to catch them.”</p> + +<p>And, in effect, the bearing operation commenced. Next day, heavy sales +were effected for delivery in three weeks; and the stock, as if +water-logged, began to sink. The same thing continued for the +following two days, until the premium became nearly nominal. In the +mean time, Bob and I, in conjunction <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>with two leading capitalists +whom we let into the secret, bought up steadily every share that was +offered; and at the end of a fortnight we found that we had purchased +rather more than double the amount of the whole original stock. Sawley +and his disciples, who, as M‘Corkindale suspected, were at the bottom +of the whole transaction, having beared to their heart’s content, now +came into the market to purchase, in order to redeem their +engagements. The following extracts from the weekly share-lists will +show the result of their endeavours to regain their lost position:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" summary="Stocktable"> + +<tr><td align="left"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +<td align="center">Sat.</td> +<td align="center">Mon.</td> +<td align="center">Tues.</td> +<td align="center">Wed.</td> +<td align="center">Thurs.</td> +<td align="center">Frid.</td> +<td align="center">Sat.</td></tr> + +<tr><td rowspan="2" align="left"><span class="smcap">Glenmutchkin<br /> +Rail.</span>,</td> +<td align="center" rowspan="2" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 20pt">}</td> +<td align="left">£1 paid,</td> +<td align="center">1⅛</td> +<td align="center">2¼</td> +<td align="center">4⅜</td> +<td align="center">7½</td> +<td align="center">10¾</td> +<td align="center">15⅜</td> +<td align="center">17</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>and Monday was the day of delivery.</p> + +<p>I have no means of knowing in what frame of mind Mr Sawley spent the +Sunday, or whether he had recourse for mental consolation to Peden; +but on Monday morning he presented himself at my door in full funeral +costume, with about a quarter of a mile of crape swathed round his +hat, black gloves, and a countenance infinitely more doleful than if +he had been attending the interment of his beloved wife.</p> + +<p>“Walk in, Mr Sawley,” said I cheerfully. “What a long time it is since +I have had the pleasure of seeing you—too long indeed for brother +directors. How are Mrs Sawley and Miss Selina—won’t you take a cup of +coffee?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p><p>“Grass, sir, grass!” said Mr Sawley, with a sigh like the groan of a +furnace-bellows. “We are all flowers of the oven—weak, erring +creatures, every one of us. Ah! Mr Dunshunner! you have been a great +stranger at Lykewake Terrace!”</p> + +<p>“Take a muffin, Mr Sawley. Anything new in the railway world?”</p> + +<p>“Ah, my dear sir—my good Mr Augustus Reginald—I wanted to have some +serious conversation with you on that very point. I am afraid there is +something far wrong indeed in the present state of our stock.”</p> + +<p>“Why, to be sure it is high; but that, you know, is a token of the +public confidence in the line. After all, the rise is nothing compared +to that of several English railways; and individually, I suppose, +neither of us have any reason to complain.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t like it,” said Sawley, watching me over the margin of his +coffee-cup. “I don’t like it. It savours too much of gambling for a +man of my habits. Selina, who is a sensible girl, has serious qualms +on the subject.”</p> + +<p>“Then why not get out of it? I have no objection to run the risk, and +if you like to transact with me, I will pay you ready money for every +share you have at the present market price.”</p> + +<p>Sawley writhed uneasily in his chair.</p> + +<p>“Will you sell me five hundred, Mr Sawley? Say the word and it is a +bargain.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p><p>“A time bargain?” quavered the coffin-maker.</p> + +<p>“No. Money down, and scrip handed over.”</p> + +<p>“I—I can’t. The fact is, my dear young friend, I have sold all my +stock already!”</p> + +<p>“Then permit me to ask, Mr Sawley, what possible objection you can +have to the present aspect of affairs? You do not surely suppose that +we are going to issue new shares and bring down the market, simply +because you have realised at a handsome premium?”</p> + +<p>“A handsome premium! O Lord!” moaned Sawley.</p> + +<p>“Why, what did you get for them?”</p> + +<p>“Four, three, and two and a half.”</p> + +<p>“A very considerable profit indeed,” said I; “and you ought to be +abundantly thankful. We shall talk this matter over at another time, +Mr Sawley, but just now I must beg you to excuse me. I have a +particular engagement this morning with my broker—rather a heavy +transaction to settle—and so”——</p> + +<p>“It’s no use beating about the bush any longer,” said Mr Sawley in an +excited tone, at the same time dashing down his crape-covered castor +on the floor. “Did you ever see a ruined man with a large family? Look +at me, Mr Dunshunner—I’m one, and you’ve done it!”</p> + +<p>“Mr Sawley! are you in your senses?”</p> + +<p>“That depends on circumstances. Haven’t you been buying stock lately?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p><p>“I am glad to say I have—two thousand Glenmutchkins, I think, and +this is the day of delivery.”</p> + +<p>“Well, then—can’t you see how the matter stands? It was I who sold +them!”</p> + +<p>“Well!”</p> + +<p>“Mother of Moses, sir! don’t you see I’m ruined?”</p> + +<p>“By no means—but you must not swear. I pay over the money for your +scrip, and you pocket a premium. It seems to me a very simple +transaction.”</p> + +<p>“But I tell you I haven’t got the scrip!” cried Sawley, gnashing his +teeth, whilst the cold beads of perspiration gathered largely on his +brow.</p> + +<p>“That is very unfortunate! Have you lost it?”</p> + +<p>“No!—the devil tempted me, and I oversold!”</p> + +<p>There was a very long pause, during which I assumed an aspect of +serious and dignified rebuke.</p> + +<p>“Is it possible?” said I in a low tone, after the manner of Kean’s +offended fathers. “What! you, Mr Sawley—the stoker’s friend—the +enemy of gambling—the father of Selina—condescend to so equivocal a +transaction? You amaze me! But I never was the man to press heavily on +a friend”—here Sawley brightened up—“your secret is safe with me, +and it shall be your own fault if it reaches the ears of the Session. +Pay me over the difference at the present market price, and I release +you of your obligation.”</p> + +<p>“Then I’m in the Gazette, that’s all,” said Sawley <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>doggedly, “and a +wife and nine beautiful babes upon the parish! I had hoped other +things from you, Mr Dunshunner—I thought you and Selina”—</p> + +<p>“Nonsense, man! Nobody goes into the Gazette just now—it will be time +enough when the general crash comes. Out with your cheque-book, and +write me an order for four-and-twenty thousand. Confound fractions! in +these days one can afford to be liberal.”</p> + +<p>“I haven’t got it,” said Sawley. “You have no idea how bad our trade +has been of late, for nobody seems to think of dying. I have not sold +a gross of coffins this fortnight. But I’ll tell you what—I’ll give +you five thousand down in cash, and ten thousand in shares—further I +can’t go.”</p> + +<p>“Now, Mr Sawley,” said I, “I may be blamed by worldly-minded persons +for what I am going to do; but I am a man of principle, and feel +deeply for the situation of your amiable wife and family. I bear no +malice, though it is quite clear that you intended to make me the +sufferer. Pay me fifteen thousand over the counter, and we cry quits +for ever.”</p> + +<p>“Won’t you take Camlachie Cemetery shares? They are sure to go up.”</p> + +<p>“No!”</p> + +<p>“Twelve Hundred Cowcaddens’ Water, with an issue of new stock next +week?”</p> + +<p>“Not if they disseminated the Ganges!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p><p>“A thousand Ramshorn Gas—four per cent guaranteed until the act?”</p> + +<p>“Not if they promised twenty, and melted down the sun in their +retort!”</p> + +<p>“Blawweary Iron? Best spec. going.”</p> + +<p>“No, I tell you once for all! If you don’t like my offer—and it is an +uncommonly liberal one—say so, and I’ll expose you this afternoon +upon ’Change.”</p> + +<p>“Well, then—there’s a cheque. But may the”——</p> + +<p>“Stop, sir! Any such profane expressions, and I shall insist upon the +original bargain. So, then—now we’re quits. I wish you a very +good-morning, Mr Sawley, and better luck next time. Pray remember me +to your amiable family.”</p> + +<p>The door had hardly closed upon the discomfited coffin-maker, and I +was still in the preliminary steps of an extempore <i>pas seul</i>, +intended as the outward demonstration of exceeding inward joy, when +Bob M‘Corkindale entered. I told him the result of the morning’s +conference.</p> + +<p>“You have let him off too easily,” said the Political Economist. “Had +I been his creditor, I certainly should have sacked the shares into +the bargain. There is nothing like rigid dealing between man and man.”</p> + +<p>“I am contented with moderate profits,” said I; “besides, the image of +Selina overcame me. How goes it with Jobson and Grabbie?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p><p>“Jobson has paid, and Grabbie compounded. Heckles—may he die an evil +death!—has repudiated, become a lame duck, and waddled; but no doubt +his estate will pay a dividend.”</p> + +<p>“So, then, we are clear of the whole Glenmutchkin business, and at a +handsome profit.”</p> + +<p>“A fair interest for the outlay of capital—nothing more. But I’m not +quite done with the concern yet.”</p> + +<p>“How so? not another bearing operation?”</p> + +<p>“No; that cock would hardly fight. But you forget that I am secretary +to the company, and have a small account against them for services +already rendered. I must do what I can to carry the bill through +Parliament; and, as you have now sold your whole shares, I advise you +to resign from the direction, go down straight to Glenmutchkin, and +qualify yourself for a witness. We shall give you five guineas a-day, +and pay all your expenses.”</p> + +<p>“Not a bad notion. But what has become of M‘Closkie, and the other +fellow with the jaw-breaking name?”</p> + +<p>“Vich-Induibh? I have looked after their interests, as in duty bound, +sold their shares at a large premium, and despatched them to their +native hills on annuities.”</p> + +<p>“And Sir Polloxfen?”</p> + +<p>“Died yesterday of spontaneous combustion.”</p> + +<p>As the company seemed breaking up, I thought <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>I could not do better +than take M‘Corkindale’s hint, and accordingly betook myself to +Glenmutchkin, along with the Captain of M‘Alcohol, and we quartered +ourselves upon the Factor for Glentumblers. We found Watty Solder very +shakey, and his assistant also lapsing into habits of painful +inebriety. We saw little of them except of an evening, for we shot and +fished the whole day, and made ourselves remarkably comfortable. By +singular good-luck, the plans and sections were lodged in time, and +the Board of Trade very handsomely reported in our favour, with a +recommendation of what they were pleased to call “the Glenmutchkin +system,” and a hope that it might generally be carried out. What this +system was, I never clearly understood; but, of course, none of us had +any objections. This circumstance gave an additional impetus to the +shares, and they once more went up. I was, however, too cautious to +plunge a second time into Charybdis, but M‘Corkindale did, and again +emerged with plunder.</p> + +<p>When the time came for the parliamentary contest, we all emigrated to +London. I still recollect, with lively satisfaction, the many pleasant +days we spent in the metropolis at the company’s expense. There were +just a neat fifty of us, and we occupied the whole of an hotel. The +discussion before the committee was long and formidable. We were +opposed by four other companies who patronised <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>lines, of which the +nearest was at least a hundred miles distant from Glenmutchkin; but as +they founded their opposition upon dissent from “the Glenmutchkin +system” generally, the committee allowed them to be heard. We fought +for three weeks a most desperate battle, and might in the end have +been victorious, had not our last antagonist, at the very close of his +case, pointed out no less than seventy-three fatal errors in the +parliamentary plan deposited by the unfortunate Solder. Why this was +not done earlier, I never exactly understood; it may be, that our +opponents, with gentlemanly consideration, were unwilling to curtail +our sojourn in London—and their own. The drama was now finally +closed, and after all preliminary expenses were paid, sixpence per +share was returned to the holders upon surrender of their scrip.</p> + +<p>Such is an accurate history of the Origin, Rise, Progress, and Fall of +the Direct Glenmutchkin Railway. It contains a deep moral, if anybody +has sense enough to see it; if not, I have a new project in my eye for +next session, of which timely notice shall be given.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VANDERDECKENS_MESSAGE_HOME" id="VANDERDECKENS_MESSAGE_HOME"></a>VANDERDECKEN’S MESSAGE HOME;</h2> + +<h3>OR, THE TENACITY OF NATURAL AFFECTION.</h3> + +<h4>[<i>MAGA.</i> <span class="smcap">May 1821.</span>]</h4> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">O</span>ur ship, after touching at the Cape, went out again, and soon losing +sight of the Table Mountain, began to be assailed by the impetuous +attacks of the sea, which is well known to be more formidable there +than in most parts of the known ocean. The day had grown dull and +hazy, and the breeze, which had formerly blown fresh, now sometimes +subsided almost entirely, and then recovering its strength, for a +short time, and changing its direction, blew with temporary violence, +and died away again, as if exercising a melancholy caprice. A heavy +swell began to come from the south-east. Our sails flapped against the +masts, and the ship rolled from side to side, as heavily as if she had +been water-logged. There was so little wind that she would not steer.</p> + +<p>At two <small>P.M.</small> we had a squall, accompanied by thunder and rain. The +seamen, growing restless, looked anxiously ahead. They said we would +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>have a dirty night of it, and that it would not be worth while to +turn into their hammocks. As the second mate was describing a gale he +had encountered off Cape Race, Newfoundland, we were suddenly taken +all aback, and the blast came upon us furiously. We continued to scud +under a double-reefed mainsail and fore-topsail till dusk; but, as the +sea ran high, the captain thought it safest to bring her to. The watch +on deck consisted of four men, one of whom was appointed to keep a +look-out ahead, for the weather was so hazy that we could not see two +cables’ length from the bows. This man, whose name was Tom Willis, +went frequently to the bows, as if to observe something; and when the +others called to him, inquiring what he was looking at, he would give +no definite answer. They therefore went also to the bows, and appeared +startled, and at first said nothing. But presently one of them cried, +“William, go call the watch.”</p> + +<p>The seamen, having been asleep in their hammocks, murmured at this +unseasonable summons, and called to know how it looked upon deck. To +which Tom Willis replied, “Come up and see. What we are minding is not +on deck, but ahead.”</p> + +<p>On hearing this, they ran up without putting on their jackets, and +when they came to the bows there was a whispering.</p> + +<p>One of them asked, “Where is she? I do not see her.” To which another +replied, “The last flash of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>lightning showed there was not a reef in +one of her sails; but we, who know her history, know that all her +canvass will never carry her into port.”</p> + +<p>By this time, the talking of the seamen had brought some of the +passengers on deck. They could see nothing, however, for the ship was +surrounded by thick darkness, and by the noise of the dashing waters, +and the seamen evaded the questions that were put to them.</p> + +<p>At this juncture the chaplain came on deck. He was a man of grave and +modest demeanour, and was much liked among the seamen, who called him +Gentle George. He overheard one of the men asking another, “If he had +ever seen the Flying Dutchman before, and if he knew the story about +her?” To which the other replied, “I have heard of her beating about +in these seas. What is the reason she never reaches port?”</p> + +<p>The first speaker replied, “They give different reasons for it, but my +story is this: She was an Amsterdam vessel, and sailed from that port +seventy years ago. Her master’s name was Vanderdecken. He was a stanch +seaman, and would have his own way, in spite of the devil. For all +that, never a sailor under him had reason to complain; though how it +is on board with them now, nobody knows;—the story is this, that in +doubling the Cape, they were a long day trying to weather the Table +Bay, which we saw this morning. However, the wind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>headed them, and +went against them more and more, and Vanderdecken walked the deck, +swearing at the wind. Just after sunset, a vessel spoke him, asking if +he did not mean to go into the bay that night. Vanderdecken replied, +‘May I be eternally d—d if I do, though I should beat about here till +the day of judgment!’ And to be sure, Vanderdecken never did go into +that bay; for it is believed that he continues to beat about in these +seas still, and will do so long enough. This vessel is never seen but +with foul weather along with her.”</p> + +<p>To which another replied, “We must keep clear of her. They say that +her captain mans his jolly boat, when a vessel comes in sight, and +tries hard to get alongside, to put letters on board, but no good +comes to them who have communication with him.”</p> + +<p>Tom Willis said, “There is such a sea between us at present, as should +keep us safe from such visits.”</p> + +<p>To which the other answered: “We cannot trust to that, if Vanderdecken +sends out his men.”</p> + +<p>Some of this conversation having been overheard by the passengers, +there was a commotion among them. In the mean time, the noise of the +waves against the vessel could scarcely be distinguished from the +sounds of the distant thunder. The wind had extinguished the light in +the binnacle, where the compass was, and no one could tell which way +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>the ship’s head lay. The passengers were afraid to ask questions, +lest they should augment the secret sensation of fear which chilled +every heart, or learn any more than they already knew. For while they +attributed their agitation of mind to the state of the weather, it was +sufficiently perceptible that their alarms also arose from a cause +which they did not acknowledge.</p> + +<p>The lamp at the binnacle being relighted, they perceived that the ship +lay closer to the wind than she had hitherto done, and the spirits of +the passengers were somewhat revived.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, neither the tempestuous state of the atmosphere nor the +thunder had ceased, and soon a vivid flash of lightning showed the +waves tumbling around us, and, in the distance, the Flying Dutchman +scudding furiously before the wind, under a press of canvass. The +sight was but momentary, but it was sufficient to remove all doubt +from the minds of the passengers. One of the men cried aloud, “There +she goes, topgallants and all.”</p> + +<p>The chaplain had brought up his prayer-book, in order that he might +draw from thence something to fortify and tranquillise the minds of +the rest. Therefore, taking his seat near the binnacle, so that the +light shone upon the white leaves of the book, he, in a solemn tone, +read out the service for those distressed at sea. The sailors stood +round with folded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>arms, and looked as if they thought it would be of +little use. But this served to occupy the attention of those on deck +for a while.</p> + +<p>In the mean time the flashes of lightning, becoming less vivid, showed +nothing else, far or near, but the billows weltering round the vessel. +The sailors seemed to think that they had not yet seen the worst, but +confined their remarks and prognostications to their own circle.</p> + +<p>At this time, the captain, who had hitherto remained in his berth, +came on deck, and, with a gay and unconcerned air, inquired what was +the cause of the general dread. He said he thought they had already +seen the worst of the weather, and wondered that his men had raised +such a hubbub about a capful of wind. Mention being made of the Flying +Dutchman, the captain laughed. He said, “he would like very much to +see any vessel carrying topgallant-sails in such a night, for it would +be a sight worth looking at.” The chaplain, taking him by one of the +buttons of his coat, drew him aside, and appeared to enter into +serious conversation with him.</p> + +<p>While they were talking together, the captain was heard to say, “Let +us look to our own ship, and not mind such things;” and accordingly, +he sent a man aloft, to see if all was right about the fore-topsail +yard, which was chafing the mast with a loud noise.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p><p>It was Tom Willis who went up; and when he came down, he said that all +was tight, and that he hoped it would soon get clearer; and that they +would see no more of what they were most afraid of.</p> + +<p>The captain and first mate were heard laughing loudly together, while +the chaplain observed, that it would be better to repress such +unseasonable gaiety. The second mate, a native of Scotland, whose name +was Duncan Saunderson, having attended one of the University classes +at Aberdeen, thought himself too wise to believe all that the sailors +said, and took part with the captain. He jestingly told Tom Willis to +borrow his grandam’s spectacles the next time he was sent to keep a +look-out ahead. Tom walked sulkily away, muttering, that he would +nevertheless trust to his own eyes till morning, and accordingly took +his station at the bow, and appeared to watch as attentively as +before.</p> + +<p>The sound of talking soon ceased, for many returned to their berths, +and we heard nothing but the clanking of the ropes upon the masts, and +the bursting of the billows ahead, as the vessel successively took the +seas.</p> + +<p>But after a considerable interval of darkness, gleams of lightning +began to reappear. Tom Willis suddenly called out, “Vanderdecken, +again! Vanderdecken, again! I see them letting down a boat.”</p> + +<p>All who were on deck ran to the bows. The next flash of lightning +shone far and wide over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>raging sea, and showed us not only the +Flying Dutchman at a distance, but also a boat coming from her with +four men. The boat was within two cables’ length of our ship’s side.</p> + +<p>The man who first saw her ran to the captain, and asked whether they +should hail her or not. The captain, walking about in great agitation, +made no reply. The first mate cried, “Who’s going to heave a rope to +that boat?” The men looked at each other without offering to do +anything. The boat had come very near the chains, when Tom Willis +called out, “What do you want? or what devil has blown you here in +such weather?” A piercing voice from the boat replied in English, “We +want to speak with your captain.” The captain took no notice of this, +and Vanderdecken’s boat having come close alongside, one of the men +came upon deck, and appeared like a fatigued and weatherbeaten seaman, +holding some letters in his hand.</p> + +<p>Our sailors all drew back. The chaplain, however, looking steadfastly +upon him, went forward a few steps, and asked, “What is the purpose of +this visit?”</p> + +<p>The stranger replied, “We have long been kept here by foul weather, +and Vanderdecken wishes to send these letters to his friends in +Europe.”</p> + +<p>Our captain now came forward, and said as firmly as he could, “I wish +Vanderdecken would put his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>letters on board of any other vessel +rather than mine.”</p> + +<p>The stranger replied, “We have tried many a ship, but most of them +refuse our letters.”</p> + +<p>Upon which, Tom Willis muttered, “It will be best for us if we do the +same, for they say there is sometimes a sinking weight in your paper.”</p> + +<p>The stranger took no notice of this, but asked where we were from. On +being told that we were from Portsmouth, he said, as if with strong +feeling, “Would that you had rather been from Amsterdam. Oh that we +saw it again!—We must see our friends again.” When he uttered these +words, the men who were in the boat below wrung their hands, and cried +in a piercing tone, in Dutch, “Oh that we saw it again! We have been +long here beating about: but we must see our friends again.”</p> + +<p>The chaplain asked the stranger, “How long have you been at sea?”</p> + +<p>He replied, “We have lost our count; for our almanac was blown +overboard. Our ship, you see, is there still; so why should you ask +how long we have been at sea; for Vanderdecken only wishes to write +home and comfort his friends.”</p> + +<p>To which the chaplain replied, “Your letters, I fear, would be of no +use in Amsterdam, even if they were delivered, for the persons to whom +they are addressed are probably no longer to be found there, except +under very ancient green turf in the churchyard.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p><p>The unwelcome stranger then wrung his hands and appeared to weep, and +replied: “It is impossible. We cannot believe you. We have been long +driving about here, but country nor relations cannot be so easily +forgotten. There is not a raindrop in the air but feels itself kindred +to all the rest, and they fall back into the sea to meet with each +other again. How then can kindred blood be made to forget where it +came from? Even our bodies are part of the ground of Holland; and +Vanderdecken says, if he once were come to Amsterdam, he would rather +be changed into a stone post, well fixed into the ground, than leave +it again, if that were to die elsewhere. But in the mean time, we only +ask you to take these letters.”</p> + +<p>The chaplain, looking at him with astonishment, said, “This is the +insanity of natural affection, which rebels against all measures of +time and distance.”</p> + +<p>The stranger continued, “Here is a letter from our second mate, to his +dear and only remaining friend, his uncle, the merchant who lives in +the second house on Stuncken Yacht Quay.”</p> + +<p>He held forth the letter, but no one would approach to take it.</p> + +<p>Tom Willis raised his voice and said, “One of our men, here, says that +he was in Amsterdam last summer, and he knows for certain that the +street <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>called Stuncken Yacht Quay was pulled down sixty years ago, +and now there is only a large church at that place.”</p> + +<p>The man from the Flying Dutchman said: “It is impossible, we cannot +believe you. Here is another letter from myself, in which I have sent +a bank-note to my dear sister, to buy some gallant lace, to make her a +high head-dress.”</p> + +<p>Tom Willis hearing this said: “It is most likely that her head now +lies under a tombstone, which will outlast all the changes of the +fashion. But on what house is your bank-note?”</p> + +<p>The stranger replied, “On the house of Vanderbrucker and Company.”</p> + +<p>The man, of whom Tom Willis had spoken, said: “I guess there will now +be some discount upon it, for that banking-house was gone to +destruction forty years ago; and Vanderbrucker was afterwards +amissing.—But to remember these things is like raking up the bottom +of an old canal.”</p> + +<p>The stranger called out passionately: “It is impossible—We cannot +believe it! It is cruel to say such things to people in our condition. +There is a letter from our captain himself, to his much-beloved and +faithful wife, whom he left at a pleasant summer dwelling, on the +border of the Haarlemer Mer. She promised to have the house +beautifully painted and gilded before he came back, and to get a new +set of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>looking-glasses for the principal chamber, that she might see +as many images of Vanderdecken as if she had six husbands at once.”</p> + +<p>The man replied, “There has been time enough for her to have had six +husbands since then; but were she alive still, there is no fear that +Vanderdecken would ever get home to disturb her.”</p> + +<p>On hearing this the stranger again shed tears, and said, if they would +not take the letters, he would leave them; and looking around he +offered the parcel to the captain, chaplain, and to the rest of the +crew successively, but each drew back as it was offered, and put his +hands behind his back. He then laid the letters upon the deck, and +placed upon them a piece of iron, which was lying near, to prevent +them from being blown away. Having done this, he swung himself over +the gangway, and went into the boat.</p> + +<p>We heard the others speak to him, but the rise of a sudden squall +prevented us from distinguishing his reply. The boat was seen to quit +the ship’s side, and in a few moments there were no more traces of her +than if she had never been there. The sailors rubbed their eyes, as if +doubting what they had witnessed, but the parcel still lay upon deck, +and proved the reality of all that had passed.</p> + +<p>Duncan Saunderson, the Scotch mate, asked the captain if he should +take them up, and put them in the letter-bag? Receiving no reply, he +would have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>lifted them if it had not been for Tom Willis, who pulled +him back, saying that nobody should touch them.</p> + +<p>In the mean time the captain went down to the cabin, and the chaplain, +having followed him, found him at his bottle-case, pouring out a large +dram of brandy. The captain, although somewhat disconcerted, +immediately offered the glass to him, saying, “Here, Charters, is what +is good in a cold night.” The chaplain declined drinking anything, and +the captain having swallowed the bumper, they both returned to the +deck, where they found the seamen giving their opinions concerning +what should be done with the letters. Tom Willis proposed to pick them +up on a harpoon, and throw it overboard.</p> + +<p>Another speaker said, “I have always heard it asserted that it is +neither safe to accept them voluntarily, nor when they are left to +throw them out of the ship.”</p> + +<p>“Let no one touch them,” said the carpenter. “The way to do with the +letters from the Flying Dutchman is, to case them upon deck, so that, +if he sends back for them, they are still there to give him.”</p> + +<p>The carpenter went to fetch his tools. During his absence, the ship +gave so violent a pitch that the piece of iron slid off the letters, +and they were whirled overboard by the wind, like birds of evil omen +whirring through the air. There was a cry <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>of joy among the sailors, +and they ascribed the favourable change which soon took place in the +weather, to our having got quit of Vanderdecken. We soon got under +weigh again. The night watch being set, the rest of the crew retired +to their berths.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_FLOATING_BEACON" id="THE_FLOATING_BEACON"></a>THE FLOATING BEACON.</h2> + +<h4>[<i>MAGA.</i> <span class="smcap">October 1821.</span>]</h4> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">O</span>ne dark and stormy night we were on a voyage from Bergen to +Christiansand in a small sloop. Our captain suspected that he had +approached too near the Norwegian coast, though he could not discern +any land, and the wind blew with such violence that we were in +momentary dread of being driven upon a lee-shore. We had endeavoured, +for more than an hour, to keep our vessel away; but our efforts proved +unavailing, and we soon found that we could scarcely hold our own. A +clouded sky, a hazy atmosphere, and irregular showers of sleety rain, +combined to deepen the obscurity of night, and nothing whatever was +visible, except the sparkling of the distant waves, when their tops +happened to break into a wreath of foam. The sea ran very high, and +sometimes broke over the deck so furiously that the men were obliged +to hold by the rigging, lest they should be carried away. Our captain +was a person of timid and irresolute character, and the dangers that +environed us made him gradually lose confidence in himself. He often +gave orders, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>countermanded them in the same moment, all the while +taking small quantities of ardent spirits at intervals. Fear and +intoxication soon stupified him completely, and the crew ceased to +consult him, or to pay any respect to his authority, in so far as +regarded the management of the vessel.</p> + +<p>About midnight our mainsail was split, and shortly after we found that +the sloop had sprung a leak. We had before shipped a good deal of +water through the hatches, and the quantity that now entered from +below was so great that we thought she would go down every moment. Our +only chance of escape lay in our boat, which was immediately lowered. +After we had all got on board of her, except the captain, who stood +leaning against the mast, we called to him, requesting that he would +follow us without delay. “How dare you quit the sloop without my +permission?” cried he, staggering forwards. “This is not fit weather +to go a-fishing. Come back—back with you all!”—“No, no,” returned +one of the crew; “we don’t want to be sent to the bottom for your +obstinacy. Bear a hand there, or we’ll leave you behind.”—“Captain, +you are drunk,” said another; “you cannot take care of yourself. You +must obey <i>us</i> now.”—“Silence! mutinous villain!” answered the +captain. “What are you all afraid of? This is a fine breeze—Up +mainsail, and steer her right in the wind’s eye.”</p> + +<p>The sea knocked the boat so violently and constantly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>against the side +of the sloop, that we feared the former would be injured or upset if +we did not immediately row away; but, anxious as we were to preserve +our lives, we could not reconcile ourselves to the idea of abandoning +the captain, who grew more obstinate the more we attempted to persuade +him to accompany us. At length one of the crew leaped on board the +sloop, and having seized hold of him, tried to drag him along by +force; but he struggled resolutely, and soon freed himself from the +grasp of the seaman, who immediately resumed his place among us, and +urged that we should not any longer risk our lives for the sake of a +drunkard and a madman. Most of the party declared they were of the +same opinion, and began to push off the boat; but I entreated them to +make one effort more to induce their infatuated commander to accompany +us. At that moment he came up from the cabin, to which he had +descended a little time before, and we immediately perceived that he +was more under the influence of ardent spirits than ever. He abused us +all in the grossest terms, and threatened his crew with severe +punishment, if they did not come on board, and return to their duty. +His manner was so violent that no one seemed willing to attempt to +constrain him to come on board the boat; and after vainly representing +the absurdity of his conduct; and the danger of his situation, we bid +him farewell, and rowed away.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p><p>The sea ran so high, and had such a terrific appearance, that I almost +wished myself in the sloop again. The crew plied the oars in silence, +and we heard nothing but the hissing of the enormous billows as they +gently rose up, and slowly subsided again, without breaking. At +intervals our boat was elevated far above the surface of the ocean, +and remained for a few moments trembling upon the pinnacle of a surge, +from which it would quietly descend into a gulf so deep and awful that +we often thought the dense black mass of waters which formed its sides +were on the point of over-arching us, and bursting upon our heads. We +glided with regular undulations from one billow to another; but every +time we sank into the trough of the sea my heart died within me, for I +felt as if we were going lower down than we had ever done before, and +clung instinctively to the board on which I sat.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding my terrors, I frequently looked towards the sloop. The +fragments of her mainsail, which remained attached to the yard, and +fluttered in the wind, enabled us to discern exactly where she lay, +and showed, by their motion, that she pitched about in a terrible +manner. We occasionally heard the voice of her unfortunate commander, +calling to us in tones of frantic derision, and by turns vociferating +curses and blasphemous oaths, and singing sea-songs with a wild and +frightful <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>energy. I sometimes almost wished that the crew would make +another effort to save him, but next moment the principle of +self-preservation repressed all feelings of humanity, and I +endeavoured, by closing my ears, to banish the idea of his sufferings +from my mind.</p> + +<p>After a little time the shivering canvass disappeared, and we heard a +tumultuous roaring and bursting of billows, and saw an unusual +sparkling of the sea about a quarter of a mile from us. One of the +sailors cried out that the sloop was now on her beam ends, and that +the noise to which we listened was that of the waves breaking over +her. We could sometimes perceive a large black mass heaving itself up +irregularly among the flashing surges, and then disappearing for a few +moments, and knew but too well that it was the hull of the vessel. At +intervals a shrill and agonised voice uttered some exclamations, but +we could not distinguish what they were, and then a long-drawn shriek +came across the ocean, which suddenly grew more furiously agitated +near the spot where the sloop lay, and in a few moments she sank down, +and a black wave formed itself out of the waters that had engulfed +her, and swelled gloomily into a magnitude greater than that of the +surrounding billows.</p> + +<p>The seamen dropped their oars, as if by one impulse, and looked +expressively at each other, without <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>speaking a word. Awful +forebodings of a fate similar to that of the captain appeared to chill +every heart, and to repress the energy that had hitherto excited us to +make unremitting exertions for our common safety. While we were in +this state of hopeless inaction, the man at the helm called out that +he saw a light ahead. We all strained our eyes to discern it, but at +the moment the boat was sinking down between two immense waves, one of +which closed the prospect, and we remained in breathless anxiety till +a rising surge elevated us above the level of the surrounding ocean. A +light like a dazzling star then suddenly flashed upon our view, and +joyful exclamations burst from every mouth. “That,” cried one of the +crew, “must be the floating beacon which our captain was looking out +for this afternoon. If we can but gain it, we’ll be safe enough yet.” +This intelligence cheered us all, and the men began to ply the oars +with redoubled vigour, while I employed myself in baling out the water +that sometimes rushed over the gunnel of the boat when a sea happened +to strike her.</p> + +<p>An hour’s hard rowing brought us so near the lighthouse that we almost +ceased to apprehend any further danger; but it was suddenly obscured +from our view, and at the same time a confused roaring and dashing +commenced at a little distance, and rapidly increased in loudness. We +soon perceived <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>a tremendous billow rolling towards us. Its top, part +of which had already broke, overhung the base, as if unwilling to +burst until we were within the reach of its violence. The man who +steered the boat brought her head to the sea, but all to no purpose, +for the water rushed furiously over us, and we were completely +immersed. I felt the boat swept from under me, and was left struggling +and groping about in hopeless desperation for something to catch hold +of. When nearly exhausted, I received a severe blow on the side from a +small cask of water which the sea had forced against me. I immediately +twined my arms round it, and, after recovering myself a little, began +to look for the boat, and to call to my companions; but I could not +discover any vestige of them, or of their vessel. However, I still had +a faint hope that they were in existence, and that the intervention of +the billows concealed them from my view. I continued to shout as loud +as possible, for the sound of my own voice in some measure relieved me +from the feeling of awful and heart-chilling loneliness which my +situation inspired; but not even an echo responded to my cries, and, +convinced that my comrades had all perished, I ceased looking for +them, and pushed towards the beacon in the best manner I could. A long +series of fatiguing exertions brought me close to the side of the +vessel which contained it, and I called out loudly, in hopes that +those on board <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>might hear me and come to my assistance; but no one +appearing, I waited patiently till a wave raised me on a level with +the chains, and then caught hold of them, and succeeded in getting on +board.</p> + +<p>As I did not see any person on deck, I went forwards to the skylight, +and looked down. Two men were seated below at a table; and a lamp, +which was suspended above them, being swung backwards and forwards by +the rolling of the vessel, threw its light upon their faces +alternately. One seemed agitated with passion, and the other surveyed +him with a scornful look. They both talked very loudly, and used +threatening gestures, but the sea made so much noise that I could not +distinguish what was said. After a little time they started up, and +seemed to be on the point of closing and wrestling together, when a +woman rushed through a small door and prevented them. I beat upon deck +with my feet at the same time, and the attention of the whole party +was soon transferred to the noise. One of the men immediately came up +the cabin stairs, but stopped short on seeing me, as if irresolute +whether to advance or hasten below again. I approached him, and told +my story in a few words, but instead of making any reply, he went down +to the cabin, and began to relate to the others what he had seen. I +soon followed him, and easily found my way into the apartment where +they all were. They appeared to feel mingled sensations of fear and +astonishment <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>at my presence, and it was some time before any of them +entered into conversation with me, or afforded those comforts which I +stood so much in need of.</p> + +<p>After I had refreshed myself with food, and been provided with a +change of clothing, I went upon deck, and surveyed the singular asylum +in which Providence had enabled me to take refuge from the fury of the +storm. It did not exceed thirty feet long, and was very strongly +built, and completely decked over, except at the entrance to the +cabin. It had a thick mast at midships, with a large lantern, +containing several burners and reflectors, on the top of it; and this +could be lowered and hoisted up again as often as required, by means +of ropes and pulleys. The vessel was firmly moored upon an extensive +sand-bank, the beacon being intended to warn seamen to avoid a part of +the ocean where many lives and vessels had been lost in consequence of +the latter running aground. The accommodations below decks were +narrow, and of an inferior description; however, I gladly retired to +the berth that was allotted me by my entertainers, and fatigue and the +rocking of billows combined to lull me into a quiet and dreamless +sleep.</p> + +<p>Next morning, one of the men, whose name was Angerstoff, came to my +bedside, and called me to breakfast in a surly and imperious manner.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p><p>Others looked coldly and distrustfully when I joined them, and I saw +that they regarded me as an intruder and an unwelcome guest. The meal +passed without almost any conversation, and I went upon deck whenever +it was over. The tempest of the preceding night had in a great measure +abated, but the sea still ran very high, and a black mist hovered over +it, through which the Norwegian coast, lying at eleven miles distance, +could be dimly seen. I looked in vain for some remains of the sloop or +boat. Not a bird enlivened the heaving expanse of waters, and I turned +shuddering from the dreary scene, and asked Morvalden, the youngest of +the men, when he thought I had any chance of getting ashore. “Not very +soon, I’m afraid,” returned he. “We are visited once a-month by people +from yonder land, who are appointed to bring us supply of provisions +and other necessaries. They were here only six days ago, so you may +count how long it will be before they return. Fishing-boats sometimes +pass us during fine weather, but we won’t have much of that this moon +at least.”</p> + +<p>No intelligence could have been more depressing to me than this. The +idea of spending perhaps three weeks in such a place was almost +insupportable, and the more so, as I could not hasten my deliverance +by any exertions of my own, but would be obliged to remain, in a state +of inactive suspense, till good fortune, or the regular course of +events, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>afforded me the means of getting ashore. Neither Angerstoff +nor Morvalden seemed to sympathise with my distress, or even to care +that I should have it in my power to leave the vessel, except in so +far as my departure would free them from the expense of supporting me. +They returned indistinct and repulsive answers to all the questions I +asked, and appeared anxious to avoid having the least communication +with me. During the greater part of the forenoon, they employed +themselves in trimming the lamps and cleaning the reflectors, but +never conversed any. I easily perceived that a mutual animosity +existed between them, but was unable to discover the cause of it. +Morvalden seemed to fear Angerstoff, and at the same time to feel a +deep resentment towards him, which he did not dare to express. +Angerstoff apparently was aware of this, for he behaved to his +companion with the undisguised fierceness of determined hate, and +openly thwarted him in everything.</p> + +<p>Marietta, the female on board, was the wife of Morvalden. She remained +chiefly below decks, and attended to the domestic concerns of the +vessel. She was rather good-looking, but so reserved and forbidding in +her manners that she formed no desirable acquisition to our party, +already so heartless and unsociable in its character.</p> + +<p>When night approached, after the lapse of a wearisome and monotonous +day, I went on deck to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>see the beacon lighted, and continued walking +backwards and forwards till a late hour. I watched the lantern, as it +swung from side to side, and flashed upon different portions of the +sea alternately, and sometimes fancied I saw men struggling among the +billows that tumbled around, and at other times imagined I could +discern the white sail of an approaching vessel. Human voices seemed +to mingle with the noise of the bursting waves, and I often listened +intently, almost in the expectation of hearing articulate sounds. My +mind grew sombre as the scene itself, and strange and fearful ideas +obtruded themselves in rapid succession. It was dreadful to be chained +in the middle of the deep—to be the continual sport of the quietless +billows—to be shunned as a fatal thing by those who traversed the +solitary ocean. Though within sight of the shore, our situation was +more dreary than if we had been sailing a thousand miles from it. We +felt not the pleasure of moving forwards, nor the hope of reaching +port, nor the delights arising from favourable breezes and genial +weather. When a billow drove us to one side, we were tossed back again +by another; our imprisonment had no variety or definite termination; +and the calm and the tempest were alike uninteresting to us. I felt as +if my fate had already become linked with that of those who were on +board the vessel. My hopes of being again permitted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>to mingle with +mankind died away, and I anticipated long years of gloom and despair +in the company of these repulsive persons into whose hands fate had +unexpectedly consigned me.</p> + +<p>Angerstoff and Morvalden tended the beacon alternately during the +night. The latter had the watch while I remained upon deck. His +appearance and manner indicated much perturbation of mind, and he +paced hurriedly from side to side, sometimes muttering to himself, and +sometimes stopping suddenly to look through the skylight, as if +anxious to discover what was going on below. He would then gaze +intently upon the heavens, and next moment take out his watch, and +contemplate the motions of its hands. I did not offer to disturb these +reveries, and thought myself altogether unobserved by him, till he +suddenly advanced to the spot where I stood, and said, in a loud +whisper, “There’s a villain below—a desperate villain—this is +true—he is capable of anything—and the woman is as bad as him.” I +asked what proof he had of all this. “Oh, I know it,” returned he; +“that wretch Angerstoff, whom I once thought my friend, has gained my +wife’s affections. She has been faithless to me—yes, she has. They +both wish I were out of the way. Perhaps they are now planning my +destruction. What can I do? It is very terrible to be shut up in such +narrow limits with those who hate me, and to have no means of +escaping, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>or defending myself from their infernal +machinations.”—“Why do you not leave the beacon,” inquired I, “and +abandon your companion and guilty wife?”—“Ah, that is impossible,” +answered Morvalden; “if I went on shore I would forfeit my liberty. I +live here that I may escape the vengeance of the law, which I once +outraged for the sake of her who has now withdrawn her love from me. +What ingratitude! Mine is indeed a terrible fate, but I must bear it. +And shall I never again wander through the green fields, and climb the +rocks that encircle my native place? Are the weary dashings of the +sea, and the moanings of the wind, to fill my ears continually, all +the while telling me that I am an exile?—a hopeless despairing exile. +But it won’t last long,” cried he, catching hold of my arm; “they will +murder me!—I am sure of it—I never go to sleep without dreaming that +Angerstoff has pushed me overboard.”</p> + +<p>“Your lonely situation and inactive life dispose you to give way to +these chimeras,” said I; “you must endeavour to resist them. Perhaps +things aren’t so bad as you suppose.”—“This is not a lonely +situation,” replied Morvalden, in a solemn tone. “Perhaps you will +have proof of what I say before you leave us. Many vessels used to be +lost here, and a few are wrecked still; and the skeletons and corpses +of those who have perished lie all over the sand-bank. Sometimes, at +midnight, I have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>seen crowds of human figures moving backwards and +forwards upon the surface of the ocean, almost as far as the eye could +reach. I neither knew who they were, nor what they did there. When +watching the lantern alone, I often hear a number of voices talking +together, as it were, under the waves; and I twice caught the very +words they uttered, but I cannot repeat them—they dwell incessantly +in my memory, but my tongue refuses to pronounce them, or to explain +to others what they meant.”</p> + +<p>“Do not let your senses be imposed upon by a distempered imagination,” +said I; “there is no reality in the things you have told +me.”—“Perhaps my mind occasionally wanders a little, for it has a +heavy burden upon it,” returned Morvalden. “I have been guilty of a +dreadful crime. Many that now lie in the deep below us might start up +and accuse me of what I am just going to reveal to you. One stormy +night, shortly after I began to take charge of this beacon, while +watching on deck, I fell into a profound sleep. I know not how long it +continued, but I was awakened by horrible shouts and cries. I started +up, and instantly perceived that all the lamps in the lantern were +extinguished. It was very dark, and the sea raged furiously; but +notwithstanding all this, I observed a ship aground on the bank, a +little way from me, her sails fluttering in the wind, and the waves +breaking over her with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>violence. Half frantic with horror, I ran down +to the cabin for a taper, and lighted the lamps as fast as possible. +The lantern, when hoisted to the top of the mast, threw a vivid glare +on the surrounding ocean, and showed me the vessel disappearing among +the billows. Hundreds of people lay gasping in the water near her. +Men, women, and children writhed together in agonising struggles, and +uttered soul-harrowing cries; and their countenances, as they +gradually stiffened under the hand of death, were all turned towards +me with glassy stare, while the lurid expression of their glistening +eyes upbraided me with having been the cause of their untimely end. +Never shall I forget these looks. They haunt me wherever I am—asleep +and awake—night and day. I have kept this tale of horror secret till +now, and do not know if I shall ever have courage to relate it again. +The masts of the vessel projected above the surface of the sea for +several months after she was lost, as if to keep me in recollection of +the night in which so many human creatures perished, in consequence of +my neglect and carelessness. Would to God I had no memory! I sometimes +think I am getting mad. The past and present are equally dreadful to +me; and I dare not anticipate the future.”</p> + +<p>I felt a sort of superstitious dread steal over me, while Morvalden +related his story, and we continued walking the deck in silence till +the period of his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>watch expired. I then went below, and took refuge +in my berth, though I was but little inclined for sleep. The gloomy +ideas and dark forebodings expressed by Morvalden weighed heavily upon +my mind, without my knowing why; and my situation, which had at first +seemed only dreary and depressing, began to have something +indefinitely terrible in its aspect.</p> + +<p>Next day, when Morvalden proceeded as usual to put the beacon in +order, he called upon Angerstoff to come and assist him, which the +latter peremptorily refused. Morvalden then went down to the cabin, +where his companion was, and requested to know why his orders were not +obeyed. “Because I hate trouble,” replied Angerstoff. “I am master +here,” said Morvalden, “and have been intrusted with the direction of +everything. Do not attempt to trifle with me.”—“Trifle with you!” +exclaimed Angerstoff, looking contemptuously. “No, no, I am no +trifler; and I advise you to walk up-stairs again, lest I prove this +to your cost.” “Why, husband,” cried Marietta, “I believe there are no +bounds to your laziness. You make this young man toil from morning to +night, and take advantage of his good nature in the most shameful +manner.”—“Peace, infamous woman!” said Morvalden; “I know very well +why you stand up in his defence; but I’ll put a stop to the intimacy +that exists between you. Go to your room instantly! You are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>my wife, +and shall obey me.” “Is this usage to be borne?” exclaimed Marietta, +“Will no one step forward to protect me from his violence?” “Insolent +fellow!” cried Angerstoff, “don’t presume to insult my +mistress.”—“Mistress!” repeated Morvalden. “This to my face!” and +struck him a severe blow. Angerstoff sprung forward, with the +intention of returning it, but I got between them, and prevented him. +Marietta then began to shed tears, and applauded the generosity her +paramour had evinced in sparing her husband, who immediately went upon +deck, without speaking a word, and hurriedly resumed the work that had +engaged his attention previous to the quarrel.</p> + +<p>Neither of the two men seemed at all disposed for a reconciliation, +and they had no intercourse during the whole day, except angry and +revengeful looks. I frequently observed Marietta in deep consultation +with Angerstoff, and easily perceived that the subject of debate had +some relation to her injured husband, whose manner evinced much alarm +and anxiety, although he endeavoured to look calm and cheerful. He did +not make his appearance at meals, but spent all his time upon deck. +Whenever Angerstoff accidentally passed him, he shrank back with an +expression of dread, and intuitively, as it were, caught hold of a +rope, or any other object to which he could cling. The day proved a +wretched and fearful one to me, for I momentarily expected that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>some +terrible affray would occur on board, and that I would be implicated +in it. I gazed upon the surrounding sea almost without intermission, +ardently hoping that some boat might approach near enough to afford me +an opportunity of quitting the horrid and dangerous abode in which I +was imprisoned.</p> + +<p>It was Angerstoff’s watch on deck till midnight; and as I did not wish +to have any communication with him, I remained below. At twelve +o’clock Morvalden got up and relieved him, and he came down to the +cabin, and soon after retired to his berth. Believing, from this +arrangement, that they had no hostile intentions, I lay down in bed +with composure, and fell asleep. It was not long before a noise +overhead awakened me. I started up, and listened intently. The sound +appeared to be that of two persons scuffling together, for a +succession of irregular footsteps beat the deck, and I could hear +violent blows given at intervals. I got out of my berth, and entered +the cabin, where I found Marietta standing alone, with a lamp in her +hand. “Do you hear that?” cried I.—“Hear what?” returned she; “I have +had a dreadful dream—I am all trembling.” “Is Angerstoff below?” +demanded I.—“No—Yes, I mean,” said Marietta. “Why do you ask that? +He went up-stairs.” “Your husband and he are fighting. We must part +them instantly.”—“How can that be?” answered Marietta; “Angerstoff is +asleep.” “Asleep! Didn’t you say he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>went up-stairs?”—“I don’t know,” +returned she; “I am hardly awake yet—Let us listen for a moment.”</p> + +<p>Everything was still for a few seconds; then a voice shrieked out, +“Ah! that knife! you are murdering me! Draw it out! No help! Are you +done? Now—now—now!” A heavy body fell suddenly along the deck, and +some words were spoken in a faint tone, but the roaring of the sea +prevented me from hearing what they were.</p> + +<p>I rushed up the cabin stairs, and tried to push open the folding-doors +at the head of them, but they resisted my utmost efforts. I knocked +violently and repeatedly to no purpose. “Some one is killed,” cried I. +“The person who barred these doors on the outside is guilty.”—“I know +nothing of that,” returned Marietta. “We can’t be of any use +now.—Come here again!—how dreadfully quiet it is. My God!—a drop of +blood has fallen through the skylight.—What faces are yon looking +down upon us?—But this lamp is going out.—We must be going through +the water at a terrible rate—how it rushes past us!—I am getting +dizzy.—Do you hear these bells ringing? and strange voices——”</p> + +<p>The cabin doors were suddenly burst open, and Angerstoff next moment +appeared before us, crying out, “Morvalden has fallen overboard. Throw +a rope to him!—He will be drowned.” His hands and dress were marked +with blood, and he had a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>frightful look of horror and confusion. +“You are a murderer!” exclaimed I, almost involuntarily.—“How do +you know that?” said he, staggering back; “I’m sure you never saw—” +“Hush, hush,” cried Marietta to him; “are you mad? Speak again!—What +frightens you?—Why don’t you run and help Morvalden?” “Has +anything happened to him?” inquired Angerstoff, with a gaze of +consternation.—“You told us he had fallen overboard,” returned +Marietta; “must my husband perish?”—“Give me some water to wash my +hands,” said Angerstoff, growing deadly pale, and catching hold of +the table for support.</p> + +<p>I now hastened upon deck, but Morvalden was not there. I then went to +the side of the vessel, and put my hands on the gunwale, while I +leaned over, and looked downwards. On taking them off, I found them +marked with blood. I grew sick at heart, and began to identify myself +with Angerstoff the murderer. The sea, the beacon, and the sky, +appeared of a sanguine hue; and I thought I heard the dying +exclamations of Morvalden sounding a hundred fathom below me, and +echoing through the caverns of the deep. I advanced to the cabin door, +intending to descend the stairs, but found that some one had fastened +it firmly on the inside. I felt convinced that I was intentionally +shut out, and a cold shuddering pervaded my frame. I covered my face +with my hands, not daring to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>look around; for it seemed as if I was +excluded from the company of the living, and doomed to be the +associate of the spirits of drowned and murdered men. After a little +time I began to walk hastily backwards and forwards; but the light of +the lantern happened to flash on a stream of blood that ran along the +deck, and I could not summon up resolution to pass the spot where it +was a second time. The sky looked black and threatening—the sea had a +fierceness in its sound and motions—and the wind swept over its bosom +with melancholy sighs. Everything was sombre and ominous; and I looked +in vain for some object that would, by its soothing aspect, remove the +dark impressions which crowded upon my mind.</p> + +<p>While standing near the bows of the vessel, I saw a hand and arm rise +slowly behind the stern, and wave from side to side. I started back as +far as I could go in horrible affright, and looked again, expecting to +behold the entire spectral figure of which I supposed they formed a +part. But nothing more was visible. I struck my eyes till the light +flashed from them, in hopes that my senses had been imposed upon by +distempered vision. However, it was in vain, for the hand still +motioned me to advance, and I rushed forwards with wild desperation, +and caught hold of it. I was pulled along a little way notwithstanding +the resistance I made, and soon discovered a man stretched along the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>stern-cable, and clinging to it in a convulsive manner. It was +Morvalden. He raised his head feebly, and said something, but I could +only distinguish the words “murdered—overboard—reached this +rope—terrible death.”—I stretched out my arms to support him, but at +that moment the vessel plunged violently, and he was shaken off the +cable, and dropped among the waves. He floated for an instant, and +then disappeared under the keel.</p> + +<p>I seized the first rope I could find, and threw one end of it over the +stern, and likewise flung some planks into the sea, thinking that the +unfortunate Morvalden might still retain strength enough to catch hold +of them if they came within his reach. I continued on the watch for a +considerable time, but at last abandoned all hopes of saving him, and +made another attempt to get down to the cabin. The doors were now +unfastened, and I opened them without any difficulty. The first thing +I saw on going below, was Angerstoff stretched along the floor, and +fast asleep. His torpid look, flushed countenance, and uneasy +respiration, convinced me that he had taken a large quantity of ardent +spirits. Marietta was in her own apartment. Even the presence of a +murderer appeared less terrible than the frightful solitariness of the +deck, and I lay down upon a bench determining to spend the remainder +of the night there. The lamp that hung from the roof soon went out, +and left me in total darkness. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>Imagination began to conjure up a +thousand appalling forms, and the voice of Angerstoff, speaking in his +sleep, filled my ears at intervals—“Hoist up the beacon!—the lamps +won’t burn—horrible!—they contain blood instead of oil. Is that a +boat coming?—Yes, yes, I hear the oars. Damnation!—why is that +corpse so long of sinking?—if it doesn’t go down soon they’ll find me +out. How terribly the wind blows!—we are driving ashore—See! see! +Morvalden is swimming after us—how he writhes in the water!” Marietta +now rushed from her room, with a light in her hand, and seizing +Angerstoff by the arm, tried to awake him. He soon rose up with +chattering teeth and shivering limbs, and was on the point of +speaking, but she prevented him, and he staggered away to his berth, +and lay down in it.</p> + +<p>Next morning, when I went upon deck, after a short and perturbed +sleep, I found Marietta dashing water over it, that she might efface +all vestige of the transactions of the preceding night. Angerstoff did +not make his appearance till noon, and his looks were ghastly and +agonised. He seemed stupified with horror, and sometimes entirely lost +all perception of the things around him for a considerable time. He +suddenly came close up to me, and demanded, with a bold air, but +quivering voice, what I had meant by calling him a murderer?—“Why, +that you are one,” replied I, after a pause.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p><p>“Beware what you say,” returned he fiercely,—“you cannot escape my +power now—I tell you, sir, Morvalden fell overboard.”—“Whence, then, +came that blood that covered the deck?” inquired I. He grew pale, and +then cried, “You lie—you lie infernally—there was none!”—“I saw +it,” said I—“I saw Morvalden himself—long after midnight. He was +clinging to the stern-cable, and said”—“Ha, ha, ha—devils!—curses!” +exclaimed Angerstoff—“Did you hear me dreaming?—I was mad last +night—Come, come, come!—We shall tend the beacon together—Let us +make friends, and don’t be afraid, for you’ll find me a good fellow in +the end.” He now forcibly shook hands with me, and then hurried down +to the cabin.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon, while sitting on deck, I discerned a boat far off, +but I determined to conceal this from Angerstoff and Marietta, lest +they should use some means to prevent its approach. I walked +carelessly about, casting a glance upon the sea occasionally, and +meditating how I could best take advantage of the means of deliverance +which I had in prospect. After the lapse of an hour, the boat was not +more than half a mile distant from us, but she suddenly changed her +course, and bore away towards the shore. I immediately shouted, and +waved a handkerchief over my head, as signals for her to return. +Angerstoff rushed from the cabin, and seized my arm, threatening at +the same time <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>to push me overboard if I attempted to hail her again. +I disengaged myself from his grasp, and dashed him violently from me. +The noise brought Marietta upon deck, who immediately perceived the +cause of the affray, and cried, “Does the wretch mean to make his +escape? For Godsake, prevent the possibility of that!”—“Yes, yes,” +returned Angerstoff; “he never shall leave the vessel—He had as well +take care, lest I do to him what I did to—” “To Morvalden, I suppose +you mean,” said I.—“Well, well, speak it out,” replied he +ferociously; “there is no one here to listen to your damnable +falsehoods, and I’ll not be fool enough to give you an opportunity of +uttering them elsewhere. I’ll strangle you the next time you tell +these lies about—” “Come,” interrupted Marietta, “don’t be +uneasy—the boat will soon be far enough away—If he wants to give you +the slip, he must leap overboard.”</p> + +<p>I was irritated and disappointed beyond measure at the failure of the +plan of escape I had formed, but thought it most prudent to conceal my +feelings. I now perceived the rashness and bad consequences of my bold +assertions respecting the murder of Morvalden; for Angerstoff +evidently thought that his personal safety, and even his life, would +be endangered, if I ever found an opportunity of accusing and giving +evidence against him. All my motions were now watched with double +vigilance. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>Marietta and her paramour kept upon deck by turns during +the whole day, and the latter looked over the surrounding ocean, +through a glass, at intervals, to discover if any boat or vessel was +approaching us. He often muttered threats as he walked past me, and, +more than once, seemed waiting for an opportunity to push me +overboard. Marietta and he frequently whispered together, and I always +imagined I heard my name mentioned in the course of these +conversations.</p> + +<p>I now felt completely miserable, being satisfied that Angerstoff was +bent upon my destruction. I wandered, in a state of fearful +circumspection, from one part of the vessel to the other, not knowing +how to secure myself from his designs. Every time he approached me, my +heart palpitated dreadfully; and when night came on, I was agonised +with terror, and could not remain in one spot, but hurried backwards +and forwards between the cabin and the deck, looking wildly from side +to side, and momentarily expecting to feel a cold knife entering my +vitals. My forehead began to burn, and my eyes dazzled; I became +acutely sensitive, and the slightest murmur, or the faintest breath of +wind, set my whole frame in a state of uncontrollable vibration. At +first, I sometimes thought of throwing myself into the sea; but I soon +acquired such an intense feeling of existence, that the mere idea of +death was horrible to me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p><p>Shortly after midnight I lay down in my berth, almost exhausted by the +harrowing emotions that had careered through my mind during the past +day. I felt a strong desire to sleep, yet dared not indulge myself; +soul and body seemed at war. Every noise excited my imagination, and +scarcely a minute passed, in the course of which I did not start up +and look around. Angerstoff paced the deck overhead, and when the +sound of his footsteps accidentally ceased at any time, I grew deadly +sick at heart, expecting that he was silently coming to murder me. At +length I thought I heard some one near my bed—I sprung from it, and, +having seized a bar of iron that lay on the floor, rushed into the +cabin. I found Angerstoff there, who started back when he saw me, and +said, “What is the matter? Did you think that—I want you to watch the +beacon, that I may have some rest. Follow me upon deck, and I will +give you directions about it.” I hesitated a moment, and then went up +the gangway stairs behind him. We walked forward to the mast together, +and he showed how I was to lower the lantern when any of the lamps +happened to go out, and bidding me beware of sleep, returned to the +cabin. Most of my fears forsook me the moment he disappeared. I felt +nearly as happy as if I had been set at liberty, and, for a time, +forgot that my situation had anything painful or alarming connected +with it. Angerstoff resumed his station in about <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>three hours, and I +again took refuge in my berth, where I enjoyed a short but undisturbed +slumber.</p> + +<p>Next day while I was walking the deck, and anxiously surveying the +expanse of ocean around, Angerstoff requested me to come down to the +cabin. I obeyed his summons, and found him there. He gave me a book, +saying it was very entertaining, and would serve to amuse me during my +idle hours; and then went above, shutting the doors carefully behind +him. I was struck with his behaviour, but felt no alarm, for Marietta +sat at work near me, apparently unconscious of what had passed. I +began to peruse the volume I held in my hand, and found it so +interesting that I paid little attention to anything else, till the +dashing of oars struck my ear. I sprang from my chair, with the +intention of hastening upon deck, but Marietta stopped me, saying, “It +is of no use—the gangway doors are fastened.” Notwithstanding this +information, I made an attempt to open them, but could not succeed. I +was now convinced, by the percussion against the vessel, that a boat +lay alongside, and I heard a strange voice addressing Angerstoff. +Fired with the idea of deliverance, I leaped upon a table which stood +in the middle of the cabin, and tried to push off the skylight, but +was suddenly stunned by a violent blow on the back of my head. I +staggered back and looked round. Marietta stood close behind me, +brandishing an axe, as if in the act of repeating the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>stroke. Her +face was flushed with rage, and, having seized my arm, she cried, +“Come down instantly, accursed villain! I know you want to betray us, +but may we all go to the bottom if you find a chance of doing so.” I +struggled to free myself from her grasp, but, being in a state of +dizziness and confusion, I was unable to effect this, and she soon +pulled me to the ground. At that moment, Angerstoff hurriedly entered +the cabin, exclaiming, “What noise is this? Oh, just as I expected! +Has that devil—that spy—been trying to get above boards? Why haven’t +I the heart to despatch him at once? But there’s no time now. The +people are waiting—Marietta, come and lend a hand.” They now forced +me down upon the floor, and bound me to an iron ring that was fixed in +it. This being done, Angerstoff directed his female accomplice to +prevent me from speaking, and went upon deck again.</p> + +<p>While in this state of bondage, I heard distinctly all that passed +without. Some one asked Angerstoff how Morvalden did.—“Well, quite +well,” replied the former; “but he’s below, and so sick that he can’t +see any person.” “Strange enough,” said the first speaker, laughing. +“Is he ill and in good health at the same time? he had as well be +overboard as in that condition.”—“Overboard!” repeated Angerstoff, +“what!—how do you mean?—all false!—but listen to me,—Are there any +news stirring ashore?”—“Why,” said the stranger, “the chief <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>talk +there just now is about a curious thing that happened this morning. A +dead man was found upon the beach, and they suspect, from the wounds +on his body, that he hasn’t got fair play. They are making a great +noise about it, and Government means to send out a boat, with an +officer on board, who is to visit all the shipping round this, that he +may ascertain if any of them has lost a man lately. ’Tis a dark +business; but they’ll get to the bottom of it, I warrant ye.—Why, you +look as pale as if you knew more about this matter than you choose to +tell.”—“No, no, no,” returned Angerstoff; “I never hear of a murder +but I think of a friend of mine who—but I won’t detain you, for the +sea is getting up—we’ll have a blowy night, I’m afraid.” “So you +don’t want any fish to-day?” cried the stranger, “then I’ll be +off—Good morning, good morning. I suppose you’ll have the Government +boat alongside by-and-by.” I now heard the sound of oars, and +supposed, from the conversation having ceased, that the fishermen had +departed. Angerstoff came down to the cabin soon after, and released +me without speaking a word.</p> + +<p>Marietta then approached him, and, taking hold of his arm, said, “Do +you believe what that man has told you?”—“Yes, by the eternal hell!” +cried he, vehemently; “I suspect I will find the truth of it soon +enough.” “My God!” exclaimed she, “what is to become of us?—How +dreadful! We <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>are chained here, and cannot escape.”—“Escape what?” +interrupted Angerstoff;—“girl, you have lost your senses. Why should +we fear the officers of justice? Keep a guard over your tongue.” “Oh,” +returned Marietta, “I talk without thinking, or understanding my own +words; but come upon deck, and let me speak with you there.” They now +went up the gangway stairs together, and continued in deep +conversation for some time.</p> + +<p>Angerstoff gradually became more agitated as the day advanced. He +watched upon deck almost without intermission, and seemed irresolute +what to do, sometimes sitting down composedly, and at other times +hurrying backwards and forwards, with clenched hands and bloodless +cheeks. The wind blew pretty fresh from the shore, and there was a +heavy swell; and I supposed, from the anxious looks with which he +contemplated the sky, that he hoped the threatening aspect of the +weather would prevent the government boat from putting out to sea. He +kept his glass constantly in his hand, and surveyed the ocean through +it in all directions.</p> + +<p>At length he suddenly dashed the instrument away, and exclaimed, “God +help us! they are coming now!” Marietta, on hearing this, ran wildly +towards him, and put her hands in his, but he pushed her to one side, +and began to pace the deck, apparently in deep thought. After a little +time, he started, and cried, “I have it now!—It’s the only +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>plan—I’ll manage the business—yes, yes—I’ll cut the cables, and +off we’ll go—that’s settled!” He then seized an axe, and first +divided the hawser at the bows, and afterwards the one attached to the +stern.</p> + +<p>The vessel immediately began to drift away, and having no sails or +helm to steady her, rolled with such violence that I was dashed from +side to side several times. She often swung over so much that I +thought she would not regain the upright position, and Angerstoff all +the while unconsciously strengthened this belief, by exclaiming, “She +will capsize! shift the ballast, or we must go to the bottom!” In the +midst of this, I kept my station upon deck, intently watching the +boat, which was still several miles distant. I waited in fearful +expectation, thinking that every new wave against which we were +impelled would burst upon our vessel and overwhelm us, while our +pursuers were too far off to afford any assistance. The idea of +perishing when on the point of being saved was inexpressibly +agonising.</p> + +<p>As the day advanced, the hopes I had entertained of the boat making up +with us gradually diminished. The wind blew violently, and we drifted +along at a rapid rate, and the weather grew so hazy that our pursuers +soon became quite indistinguishable. Marietta and Angerstoff appeared +to be stupified with terror. They stood motionless, holding firmly by +the bulwarks of the vessel; and though the waves <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>frequently broke +over the deck, and rushed down the gangway, they did not offer to shut +the companion door, which would have remained open had I not closed +it. The tempest, gloom, and danger that thickened around us, neither +elicited from them any expressions of mutual regard, nor seemed to +produce the slightest sympathetic emotion in their bosoms. They gazed +sternly at each other and at me, and every time the vessel rolled, +clung with convulsive eagerness to whatever lay within their reach.</p> + +<p>About sunset our attention was attracted by a dreadful roaring, which +evidently did not proceed from the waves around us; but the atmosphere +being very hazy, we were unable to ascertain the cause of it for a +long time. At length we distinguished a range of high cliffs, against +which the sea beat with terrible fury. Whenever the surge broke upon +them, large jets of foam started up to a great height, and flashed +angrily over their black and rugged surfaces, while the wind moaned +and whistled with fearful caprice among the projecting points of rock. +A dense mist covered the upper part of the cliffs, and prevented us +from seeing if there were any houses upon their summits, though this +point appeared of little importance, for we drifted towards the shore +so fast that immediate death seemed inevitable.</p> + +<p>We soon felt our vessel bound twice against the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>sand, and in a little +time after a heavy sea carried her up the beach, where she remained +imbedded and hard aground. During the ebb of the waves there was not +more than two feet of water round her bows. I immediately perceived +this, and watching a favourable opportunity, swung myself down to the +beach by means of part of the cable that projected through the +hawse-hole. I began to run towards the cliffs the moment my feet +touched the ground, and Angerstoff attempted to follow me, that he +might prevent my escape; but, while in the act of descending from the +vessel, the sea flowed in with such violence that he was obliged to +spring on board again to save himself from being overwhelmed by its +waters.</p> + +<p>I hurried on and began to climb up the rocks, which were very steep +and slippery; but I soon grew breathless from fatigue, and found it +necessary to stop. It was now almost dark, and when I looked around, I +neither saw anything distinctly, nor could form the least idea how far +I had still to ascend before I reached the top of the cliffs. I knew +not which way to turn my steps, and remained irresolute, till the +barking of a dog faintly struck my ear. I joyfully followed the sound, +and, after an hour of perilous exertion, discovered a light at some +distance, which I soon found to proceed from the window of a small +hut.</p> + +<p>After I had knocked repeatedly, the door was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>opened by an old man, +with a lamp in his hand. He started back on seeing me, for my dress +was wet and disordered, my face and hands had been wounded while +scrambling among the rocks, and fatigue and terror had given me a wan +and agitated look. I entered the house, the inmates of which were a +woman and a boy, and having seated myself near the fire, related to my +host all that had occurred on board the floating beacon, and then +requested him to accompany me down to the beach, that we might search +for Angerstoff and Marietta. “No, no,” cried he; “that is impossible. +Hear how the storm rages! Worlds would not induce me to have any +communication with murderers. It would be impious to attempt it on +such a night as this. The Almighty is surely punishing them now! Come +here and look out.”</p> + +<p>I followed him to the door, but the moment he opened it the wind +extinguished the lamp. Total darkness prevailed without, and a chaos +of rushing, bursting, and moaning sounds swelled upon the ear with +irregular loudness. The blast swept round the hut in violent eddyings, +and we felt the chilly spray of the sea driving upon our faces at +intervals. I shuddered, and the old man closed the door, and then +resumed his seat near the fire.</p> + +<p>My entertainer made a bed for me upon the floor, but the noise of the +tempest, and the anxiety I felt about the fate of Angerstoff and +Marietta, kept me <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>awake the greater part of the night. Soon after +dawn my host accompanied me down to the beach. We found the wreck of +the floating beacon, but were unable to discover any traces of the +guilty pair whom I had left on board of it.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="COLONNA_THE_PAINTER" id="COLONNA_THE_PAINTER"></a>COLONNA THE PAINTER.</h2> + +<h3>A TALE OF ITALY AND THE ARTS.</h3> + +<h4>[<i>MAGA.</i> <span class="smcap">September 1829.</span>]</h4> + +<p>[The following “Tale of Italy and the Arts” was submitted in MS. to +the late Mr Coleridge, who signified his approval by giving to the +writer, as an appropriate heading, two then unpublished stanzas from +his admirable translation of Goethe’s Song of Mignon in “Wilhelm +Meister,” beginning “Kennst du das Land?”]</p> + +<div class="bbox centerbox2"><p>Know’st thou the Land where the pale Citrons blow,<br /> +And Golden Fruits through dark green foliage glow?<br /> +O soft the breeze that breathes from that blue sky!<br /> +Still stand the Myrtles and the Laurels high.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Know’st thou it well? O thither, Friend!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thither with thee, Beloved! would I wend.</span><br /> +<br /> +Know’st thou the House? On Columns rests its Height;<br /> +Shines the Saloon; the Chambers glisten bright;<br /> +And Marble Figures stand and look at me—<br /> +Ah, thou poor Child! what have they done to thee!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Know’st thou it well? O thither, Friend!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thither with thee, Protector! would I wend.</span></p></div> +<p class="right"><span style="margin-right: 5em"><span class="smcap">S. T. Coleridge</span>, <i>from</i> <span class="smcap">Goethe</span>.</span></p> + +<h3>INTRODUCTION.</h3> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span>fter the fall of Napoleon had given peace to Europe, and insipidity +to a soldier’s life, I returned with my regiment to B——, and too +soon discovered that the lounging habits and quiet security of parade +and garrison service were miserable substitutes for the high and +stirring excitement of the bivouac, the skirmish, and the battle. I +found myself <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 2]</a></span>gradually sinking into a state of mental atrophy, +perilous alike to physical and moral health; and, after a fruitless +struggle of some months with these morbid longings for old habits and +associations, I determined to quit the army, and to realise the +favourite daydream of my early youth—a walk through Italy; hoping, by +two years of travel and incessant intercourse with men and books, to +gain a fresh hold upon life and happiness, and to repair, in some +measure, those deficiencies in my education, which the premature +adoption of a military life had necessarily involved.</p> + +<p>Pausing a few days at Vienna, I formed a friendly intimacy with a +young and intelligent Venetian, of the ancient senatorial house of +F——i; and, on my return through Venice, after a rewarding and +delightful residence of two years in various parts of Italy, I met my +Vienna friend in one of the taverns of St Mark’s. After a cordial +greeting, he told me that he was obliged to leave Venice on the +ensuing day, to take possession of an estate and villa in Lombardy, +bequeathed to him by a deceased relative. The gardens, he added, +covered the slope of a woody hill, which commanded a wide view over +the classic shores and environs of the Lake of Garda; and the mansion, +although time-worn and ruinous, contained some fine old paintings, and +a store of old books and manuscripts which had not seen the light for +ages. I had already experienced the keen delight <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 3]</a></span>of exploring the +mines of literary wealth contained in the old libraries of Italy, and +I did not hesitate to accept the cordial invitation to accompany him +which closed this alluring description of his Lombard villa.</p> + +<p>We left Venice the following morning, and, proceeding by easy journeys +through Padua and Verona, we reached the villa on the evening of the +third day, and installed ourselves in the least decayed apartments of +the ruinous but still imposing and spacious mansion. On the ensuing +day I rose early, and hastened to examine some large fresco paintings +in the saloon, which had powerfully excited my curiosity during a +cursory view by lamp-light. They were admirably designed, and, from +the recurrence in all of the remarkable form and features of a young +man of great personal beauty, they were evidently a connected series; +but, with the exception of two, the colouring and details were nearly +obliterated by time and the humid air from the contiguous lake. Upon +scrolls beneath the two least injured paintings were the inscriptions +of <i>La Scoperta</i> and <i>La Vendetta</i>; and the incidents delineated in +them were so powerfully drawn, and so full of dramatic expression, +that a novelist of moderate ingenuity would readily have constructed +from them an effective romance. The picture subscribed <i>La Scoperta</i> +represented the interior of an elegant saloon decorated in Italian +taste with pictures, busts, and candelabra. In the foreground was +seated a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 4]</a></span>young artist in the plain garb rendered familiar to modern +eyes by the portraits of Raphael and other painters of the sixteenth +century; a short cloak and doublet of black cloth, and tight black +pantaloons of woven silk. The form and features of this youth were +eminently noble. His countenance beamed with dignity and power, and +his tall figure displayed a classic symmetry and grandeur which +forcibly reminded me of that magnificent statue, the reposing +Discobolus. Before him were an easel and canvass, on which was +distinguishable the roughly sketched likeness of a robust and +middle-aged man sitting opposite to him in the middle-ground of the +picture, and richly attired in a Spanish mantle of velvet. His sleeves +were slashed and embroidered in the fashion of the period, and his +belt and dagger glittered with adornments of gold and jewels; while +his golden spurs, and the steel corselet which covered his ample +chest, indicated a soldier of distinguished rank. In the background +stood a tall and handsome youth leaning with folded arms against the +window-niche. He was attired in the splendid costume of the Venetian +nobles, as represented in the portraits of Titian and Paul Veronese, +and his dark eyes were fixed upon the painter and his model with an +expression of intense and wondering solicitude. And truly the +impassioned looks and attitudes of the individuals before him were +well adapted to excite sympathy and astonishment. The young artist sat +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 5]</a></span>erect, his tall figure somewhat thrown back, and his right hand, +holding the pencil, was resting on the elbow of his chair; while from +his glowing and dilated features, intense hatred and mortal defiance +blazed out upon the man whose portrait he had begun to paint. In the +delineation of the broad and knitted brow, the eagle-fierceness of the +full and brilliant eye, and the stern compression of the lips, the +unknown artist had been wonderfully successful, and not less so in the +display of very opposite emotions in the harsh and repulsive +lineaments of the personage sitting for his portrait. The wild +expression of every feature indicated that he had suddenly made some +strange and startling discovery. His face was of a livid and deadly +yellow; his small and deep-set eyes were fixed in the wide stare of +terror upon the artist; and his person was half raised from his seat, +while his hands convulsively clutched the elbows of the chair. In +short, his look and gesture were those of a man who, while unconscious +of danger, had suddenly roused a sleeping lion.</p> + +<p>The companion picture, called <i>La Vendetta</i>, portrayed a widely +different scene and circumstance. The locality was a deep ravine, the +shelving sides of which were thickly covered with trees; and the +background of this woody hollow was blocked up to a considerable +height by the leafy branches of recently hewn timber. In the right +foreground were two horses, saddled and <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 6]</span>bridled, and at their feet +the bleeding corpses of two men, clothed in splendid Greek costume. On +the left of the painting appeared the young Venetian nobleman before +described: he was on horseback, and watching, with looks of deep +interest and excitement, the issue of a mortal combat between the two +prominent figures in <i>La Scoperta</i>. But here the younger man was no +longer in the plain and unassuming garb of an artist. He was attired +in a richly embroidered vest of scarlet and gold; white pantaloons of +woven silk displayed advantageously the full and perfect contour of +his limbs; while a short mantello of dark-blue velvet fell gracefully +from his shoulders, and a glossy feather in his Spanish hat waved over +his fine features, which told an eloquent tale of triumph and of +gratified revenge.</p> + +<p>His antagonist, a man of large and muscular proportions, was +apparelled as in the other picture, excepting that he had no mantle, +and was cased in back and breast armour of scaled steel. He had been +just disarmed; his sword, of formidable length, had flown above his +head; while a naked dagger lay on the ground under his left hand, +which hung lifeless by his side, and from a gaping wound in the wrist +issued a stream of blood.</p> + +<p>The sword-point of the young painter was buried in the throat of his +mailed opponent, whose livid hue and rayless eyeballs already +indicated that his wound was mortal.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 7]</span></p><p>I was intently gazing upon these mysterious pictures when my friend +entered the saloon, and in reply to my eager inquiries, informed me +that the series of paintings around us portrayed some romantic family +incidents which had occurred in the sixteenth century; and that these +frescos had been designed by an able amateur artist, who was indeed +the hero of this romance of Italian life, and after whom this +apartment was still called the Saloon of Colonna. The late proprietor +of the villa, he continued, had mentioned some years since the +discovery of a manuscript in the library, which gave a detailed +account of the incidents on these pictured walls, and which, if we +could find it, would well reward the trouble of perusal.</p> + +<p>My curiosity received a fresh impulse from this intelligence. Telling +my friend that I would investigate his books while he visited his +tenants, I proceeded after breakfast to the library; and, after some +hours of fruitless search, I discovered, in a mass of worm-eaten +manuscripts, an untitled, but apparently connected narrative, which +forcibly arrested my attention by the romantic charm of the incidents, +the energy of the language, and the spirited criticisms on fine art +with which it was interwoven. The hero of the tale was an ardent and +imaginative Italian; at once a painter and an improvisatore; a man of +powerful and expansive intellect; and glowing with intense enthusiasm +for <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 8]</span>classic and ancient lore, and for the beautiful in art and +nature. The diction of this manuscript was, like the man it portrayed, +lofty and impassioned; and, when describing the rich landscapes of +Italy, or the wonders of human art which adorn that favoured region, +it occasionally rose into a sustained harmony, a rhythmical beauty and +balance, of which no modern language but that of Italy is susceptible. +Dipping at random through its pages, I saw with delight the name of +Colonna; and, ere long, discovered an animated description of the +singular scene portrayed in <i>La Scoperta</i>.</p> + +<p>On my friend’s return in the evening, I held up the manuscript in +triumph as he approached; and, after a repast in the Colonna saloon, +F——i, who, although a Venetian, could read his native tongue with +Roman purity of accent, opened at my request the time-stained volume, +and read as follows.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<p>On a bright May morning, in the year 1575, my gondola was gliding +under the guns of a Turkish frigate in the harbour of Venice, when she +fired a broadside in compliment to the Doge’s marriage with the +Adriatic. The rolling of the stately vessel gave a sudden impulse to +the light vehicle in which I was then standing to obtain a better view +of the <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 9]</span>festivities around me; the unexpected and stunning report +deprived me for a moment of self-possession and balance, and I was +precipitated into the water. The encumbrance of a cloak rendered +swimming impracticable, and, after some vain attempts to remain on the +surface, I went down. When restored to consciousness, I found myself +in the gondola, supported by a young man, whose dripping garments told +me that I had been saved from untimely death by his courage and +promptitude. “Our bath has been a cold one,” said he, addressing me +with a friendly and cheering smile. Too much exhausted to reply, I +could only grasp his hand with silent and expressive fervour. This +incident deprived the festival of all attraction; and, soon as I had +regained sufficient strength, the young stranger proposed that we +should return to the city for a change of dress. Still weak and +exhausted, I gladly assented to his proposal, and we left the +Bucentoro escorted by a thousand vessels, and saluted by the thunders +of innumerable cannon, proceeding to the open sea to celebrate the +high espousals.</p> + +<p>My companion left me at the portal of my father’s palace. He refused +to enter it, nor would he reveal his name and residence; but he +embraced me cordially, and promised an early visit. During the +remainder of the day, I could not for a moment banish the image of my +unknown benefactor from <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 10]</span>my memory. It was obvious, from his accent, +that he was no Venetian. His language was the purest Tuscan, and +conveyed in a voice rich, deep, and impassioned, beyond any in my +experience. He was attired in the dark and homely garb of a student in +painting; but he was in the full bloom of youth, and his tall figure +was cast in the finest mould of manlike beauty. His raven locks +clustered round a lofty and capacious brow; his full dark eyes +sparkled with intelligence and fire; while his fresh and +finely-compressed lips indicated habits of decision and refinement, +and gave a nameless charm to all he uttered. His deportment was noble +and commanding; his step bounding and elastic; and there was an +impressive and startling vehemence, a fervour and impetuosity in every +look and gesture, which made me regard him as one of a new and almost +supernatural order of beings. My heart swelled with an aching and +uncontrollable impatience to see him again, which quickened every +pulse to feverish rapidity; my senses, however, were still confused +and giddy with long immersion in the water, and I endeavoured to +recruit my exhausted powers by repose. The evening found me more +tranquil, and I wandered forth to view the regatta on the grand canal. +These boat-races greatly contribute to form the skill and energy which +distinguish the Venetian mariners. Strength, dexterity, and ardour, +are indispensable <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 11]</span>to success in contending for the prizes; and the +eager competition of the candidates imparts an intense interest to +these festivities, which require only a Pindar to elevate them into +classical importance. The entire surface of the spacious canal was +foaming with the dash of oars, and resounding with the exuberant +gaiety of the Venetians; while the tapestried balconies of the +surrounding palaces were crowded with all the beauty and chivalry of +Venice; and the glittering windows reflected the rays of the setting +sun upon happy faces innumerable.</p> + +<p>Proceeding to the place of St Mark, I paced in a contemplative mood +over its surface until the day closed, and the night-breeze diffused a +delicious coolness. I looked into several of the taverns under the +arcades to observe the company assembled, and fancied that I discerned +in one of them the generous youth who had rescued me from such +imminent danger. Availing myself of Venetian privilege, I entered +without unmasking, and found my conjecture verified. This tavern was +the habitual resort of the artists resident in Venice, and the +assembled individuals appeared to be engaged in vehement controversy.</p> + +<p>Paul Veronese was addressing them as I entered. “Who,” said he, “is +most competent to pass judgment upon a work of art? Certainly the man +who has accurately observed the appearances of nature, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 12]</span>and who can +determine the limits of art. I despise the dotards who contend that a +man of taste and intellect must have been a dauber of canvass, before +he can decide upon the merits of a picture. The ludicrous certificate +of approval which the German horse-dealers chalked upon the bronze +horses of St Mark’s, outweighed, in my estimation, a volume of +professional cant. Trained to a sound knowledge of their trade in the +studs of Germany, they felt and understood all the excellence of these +magnificent works of art. They recognised at once the noble character +of the animal, and even distinguished the peculiar attributes of each +individual horse. The superlative excellence of their heads, and the +fiery impatience of control which they exhibit, cannot be understood +or conveyed by mere perseverance in drawing. No painter, who resides +in the interior, can understand the merits of a sea-piece; nor can the +devout Fra Bartolomeo criticise a Venus of our venerable Titian so +well as any despot of the East who owns a seraglio.”</p> + +<p>“True,” replied another artist, whose full round tones and rich +emphasis bespoke him a Roman; “but taste is not intuitive; nor can it +be attained by merely studying the appearances of nature and the +theories of art. We must also explore the rich treasures of painting +which adorn and dignify our beautiful Italy. It is not enough, +however, to study a single specimen of each great master; we must +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 13]</span>patiently and repeatedly examine his progressive improvements and his +various styles. By perseverance in this process, a young artist will +beneficially exercise his eye and his judgment, and will readily +distinguish the best pictures in a collection. Any degree of +discipline short of this will be inadequate to raise him above the +level of the mob, which followed in procession the Madonna of Cimabue, +and lauded it as the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of art because they had never +seen anything better.”</p> + +<p>The young stranger now addressed them with much animation: “I presume +not to decide,” said he, “how far the last speaker is correct in his +opinions. The incessant noise on the piazza precludes any deliberate +consideration of the subject; but so far as I could collect the +subject of Maestro Paul’s opinion, I understood him to insist upon the +necessity of knowing the limits of art. I trust he will pardon so +young an artist for uttering sentiments at variance with his own; and +that I shall not lose ground in his esteem if I contend that every +object in art is material, and that ideal forms and models of +excellence are absurdities. An Aspasia and a Phryne, youthful and +lovely, maybe elevated into a Pallas and a Venus by an able and +imaginative painter, whose excited fancy will readily improve upon his +models, and invest each feature, form, and attitude, with classical +and appropriate expression. But an ideal and perfectly beautiful +woman,<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 14]</span> destitute of every attribute arising from climate and national +peculiarities, is a phantom of the brain. And yet how many +common-place artists, who have consumed the most valuable portion of +their lives in drawing from plaster-casts, call these insufferably +vacant faces and forms genuine art, and affect to look down upon the +master-spirits who have immortalised themselves by matchless portraits +of the great men and beautiful women of their own times!”</p> + +<p>The parties soon after separated, and Paul Veronese left the tavern, +accompanied by the stranger. I followed, and observed them walking +round the piazza, and pausing occasionally to listen to the melodious +barcarolos, and sportive sallies of the gay Venetians. At the entrance +of the Merceria the youth saluted and left his companion, and I +promptly availed myself of the opportunity to unmask and approach him. +He immediately recognised me, and expressed himself gratified to +observe that my accident had been unattended with evil consequence. I +repeated warmly my acknowledgments, and assured him of my ardent wish +to prove my gratitude by rendering him any service in my power. He +appeared, however, rather disconcerted than pleased by these +professions, and exclaimed with some vehemence, “What have I done for +you that I would not readily have attempted for the lowest of human +beings? How many a wretch throws himself from a precipice into the +deep to <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 15]</span>bring up a paltry coin! I have been taught to think that +exaggerated praise for the performance of a mere act of duty has a +tendency to promote vanity and cowardice; and I predict the decay of +true heroism and public spirit from the growing practice of +commemorating trivial events and trivial men by statues, columns, and +inscriptions.”</p> + +<p>“You may disclaim all merit,” I replied; “but I cannot forget that, to +save the life of a stranger, you bounded from the lofty bulwark of a +frigate. I maintain that there is something god-like in the man who +hazards his life with such generous promptitude; and I think you +cannot but admit that gratitude is the strongest and most agreeable +tie which binds society together. Surely, then, if the fervent and +enthusiastic expression of it be a failing, it is an amiable one.”</p> + +<p>He took my hand and gave me a look of cordial sympathy, but said +nothing in reply. I warmly urged him to pass the evening with me; he +assented, and we proceeded in a gondola up the grand canal to my +abode. During supper the conversation was gay and spirited, but +confined to generalities; and it was not until we were released from +the presence of menials that our ideas flowed with unrestrained +freedom and confidence. The government and state-policy of Venice were +passed in review; and my guest lauded the wisdom of the senate in +having embraced the first opportunity of <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 16]</span>concluding with honour the +arduous struggle they had maintained against the formidable power of +Turkey. He rejoiced that the Doge could again espouse the Adriatic +sea-nymph with all the accustomed display of pomp and power, and +remarked how essential to the safety and independence of Venice was +the uninterrupted annual celebration of a festival which fostered the +pride and courage of the people.</p> + +<p>“Our ancient bride,” I replied, “has of late exhibited some ominous +symptoms of caprice and inconstancy. The ceremony should have taken +place two days since, but the wild goddess was restive and untameable, +and insulted the old Doge, her destined spouse, by rolling the bodies +of a dozen drowned wretches up the grand canal to the stairs of his +palace. Pope Alexander III., who exercised some influence over the +capricious fair one, is unfortunately no more; and Columbus, the hero +of whom Genoa proved herself so unworthy, has explored and subdued for +the princes of Castile the genuine Amphitrite, in comparison with whom +the bride of Venice is a mere nymph.”</p> + +<p>“The destinies of Venice,” he observed, with a touch of sarcasm in his +manner, “must be accomplished. She has reached, and probably passed, +the climax of her political greatness. Other nations, in the vigour of +youth, and possessing greater local advantages, have commenced their +maritime career, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 17]</span>and this proud republic must submit to decline and +fall, as mightier states have done before her. Already I perceive +symptoms of unsoundness in her political institutions, of declining +energy and shallow policy in the conduct of her wars and negotiations. +If you could not preserve by resolute defence the Isle of Cyprus, +which has owned your sway for a century, you might have saved it by +the easy and obvious expedient of allowing the Sultan to receive at a +cheaper rate his annual supply of its delicious wines, and by refusing +to shelter in the harbour of Famaugusta the Christian corsairs who +capture the beauties destined for the seraglio. The sweet island of +Love is now lost for ever to the state of Venice, and its incomparable +wines become every year more rare and costly throughout Italy.”</p> + +<p>The keen edge of his remarks touched me sensibly, and wounded all my +pride of birth and country. This revulsion of feeling did not escape +the quick perceptions of my guest: the recollection that he was +speaking thus unguardedly to the son of a Venetian senator seemed to +flash upon him, and he closed the discussion by remarking, with a +smile, that we were in Venice, that Venetian walls possessed the +faculty of hearing, and that there would be discretion in a change of +subject. I briefly assented to the necessity of being guarded in the +vicinity of Venetian domestics, who were occasionally <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 18]</span>agents of the +police; and, after a pause of recollection, he resumed.</p> + +<p>“It is time,” said he, “that I should speak of myself and of my object +in Venice. I am a native of Florence, and a painter. Wearied and +disgusted with the skeletons of Florentine art, I came here to study +the flesh and blood of the Venetian school. The works of Titian +realise everything which is valuable and essential in the art of +painting, and the student who does not pursue the track of this great +master will never attain high rank as a painter. In Venice, the public +voice has supreme jurisdiction in matters of taste and fine art, and +the artists collectively exercise little influence on public opinion. +Titian fascinates all amateurs, and every artist admits his +incomparable excellence in the great essential of painting, which is +truth of colouring.”</p> + +<p>“I am still too much a novice in the theories of your beautiful art,” +I replied, “to contend this point with you; but you will pardon me if +I suggest the probability that you are disgusted with the severity of +the Tuscan school. Your abhorrence of the yoke you have escaped from +impels you to the other extreme, and your admiration of Venetian art +is heightened by contrasting the flesh and blood of Titian with the +bones and sinews of Michael Angelo. Nevertheless, I will hazard a +prediction, that instead of abandoning for ever the sound principles +of the <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 19]</span>Florentine school, you will eventually resume and abide by +them. Our graceful Titian is the prince of colourists, but it must be +admitted that his drawing seldom rises above mediocrity.”</p> + +<p>“You must excuse me,” he retorted with a smile, “if I doubt whether +your position can be maintained. I infer from the tendency of your +remarks that you consider drawing of primary importance. I admit that +drawing is essential to give truth and symmetry of proportion, and is +therefore a necessary evil; but a finished picture represents the +surfaces of things: surfaces are distinguishable only by colouring, +and therefore I maintain that colouring is the real object—the alpha +and omega—of art. To class drawing above painting, is to prefer the +scaffold to the building—the rude and early stages to the full and +rich maturity of art. What are the sharp and vigorous lines of Michael +Angelo but dreams and shadows, compared with the pure and exquisite +vitality of a head by Titian? Any beardless tyro may, by plodding +industry, produce a drawing as accurate, if not as free, as the +off-hand sketches of Raffaelle; but to delineate real life with its +exquisitely blended tints and demi-tints; its tender outlines, and +evanescent shades of character and expression,—to accomplish all this +by lines and angles is impossible. It requires the magic aid of +colouring, controlled by that deep and rare perception of the +beautiful, that wondrous <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 20]</span>harmony of intellect and feeling, which is +the immediate gift of heaven, and the proudest, highest attribute of +man.”</p> + +<p>“I am by no means insensible to the charms of the Venetian school,” I +rejoined; “and I admit, in many respects, the force of your reasoning. +It is, however, a question with me, whether the enthusiastic disciples +of Titian are not in danger of pursuing the material and perishable, +rather than the intellectual and permanent in painting. The glorious +colouring of this great master will fade under the action of time and +humidity, and betray his deficiencies in drawing; whereas the moral +grandeur of Michael Angelo’s frescos, which derive no aid from colour, +will endure as long as the walls which they adorn. I would gladly hear +you contest this point with the Roman artist who addressed Maestro +Paul this evening at the tavern. I feel too much my own deficiency in +technical phrase and knowledge to vindicate my opinions successfully.”</p> + +<p>“That Roman,” said he, “is an intellectual and accomplished man, but +he wants a painter’s eye, and should rather have devoted his time and +talents to literature. He has, however, pursued the fine arts +professionally, and he is eloquent and resolute in the defence of his +opinions: but the nature which he has studied is destitute of life and +colouring; it exists only in marble and plaster, and he would rather +copy the single and motionless attitude of an <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 21]</span>antique statue, than +study the fine forms and eloquent features with which Italy abounds. +He is, in short, a sedentary idler, who will not take the trouble to +read the great book of nature, and would rather fire at a wooden eagle +on a pole, than pursue the kingly bird amidst the wild scenery of the +Apennines. He assumed the unwarrantable liberty of severely censuring +Paul Veronese’s grand picture of the ‘Nuptials of Cana,’ in the +presence of that noble artist. He objected to the insignificant +appearance of Jesus and his disciples, and to their position at the +table in the middle-ground of the picture. The painter introduced them +into this great work because their presence was indispensable; but he +avoided giving them any prominent position, conceiving it impossible +for any human artist to convey an adequate personification of our +glorious Redeemer. Moreover, they were but accessary to his real +object, which was to represent the busy crowd of guests, the banquet, +and the architecture. In these respects the artist has been eminently +successful. The painting abounds with harmony, and the incidents are +told with all the life and spirit of a Spanish novel. The most +prominent figures are musicians at a table in the foreground, +performing a concert upon elegant instruments. Paul Veronese is +leading with grace and spirit on the violin; Titian, the great ruler +of harmony, is performing on the violoncello; Bassano and Tintorett, +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 22]</span>upon other instruments. They are painted with wonderful truth of +character and expression; they are magnificently attired; and their +personal appearance is eminently noble and dignified. Around the +bride’s table are assembled the most distinguished personages of the +present age; all admirable portraits, and abounding with dramatic +expression. The atmosphere in the background is clear and transparent, +and exhibits in sharp and brilliant relief the Palladian magnificence +of the architecture; while the busy foreground is enriched with a +gorgeous display of vases and other materials of the banquet, adorned +with chasings of splendid and classical design. The light throughout +the foreground and middle distance is wonderfully natural, and clearly +develops the numerous groups and figures comprehended in this colossal +work. What man of sense and feeling can behold this wondrous +achievement of human art, and not long to feast his eyes upon it for +ever?</p> + +<p>“This fastidious Roman expressed also his annoyance at the inaccuracy +of the costume, in Paul’s fine picture of the ‘Family of Darius +presented to Alexander,’ and lamented that so admirable a work should +have been blemished by this gross anachronism. You are, doubtless, +well acquainted with a painting which belongs to a branch of your +family. It may be truly called the triumph of colouring; and certainly +more harmony, splendour, and loveliness, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 23]</span>never met together in one +picture. To these merits must be added the truth of character which +prevails in all the heads, most of which are portraits. Forget for a +moment that the incident is borrowed from ancient story; imagine it +the victory of a hero of the sixteenth century, and the painting +becomes, in all respects, a masterpiece. The architecture, in the +background, gives a tone to the whole; but it required the delicate +outlines and the exquisite perception of harmonious colouring which +distinguish Paul Veronese, to give relief and contrast to the figures +and draperies on so light a ground. The pyramidal group, formed by an +old man and four female figures, is superlatively lovely; the +countenances wonderfully expressive, and sparkling with animation. The +head of Alexander is beautiful, but deficient in masculine firmness, +and more adapted to charm the softer sex than to awe the world; while +the nobler features of Parmenia exhibit a strength of character finely +contrasted with the more feminine graces of the royal conqueror, and +his yellow drapery is admirably folded and coloured. How exquisitely +finished, too, is the long and beautifully braided flaxen hair of the +Persian Princesses! And what a host of figures in this noble picture, +most of them the size of life, as in the ‘Nuptials of Cana!’ +Certainly, this painting is nearly unrivalled in close fidelity to +nature; and in the truth and splendour of its colouring, it yields +only to that triumphant <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 24]</span>specimen of Venetian art in the Scuola della +Carità, Titian’s ‘Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple,’ These two +pictures will long maintain their glorious supremacy, and will +probably never be surpassed. This painter’s violation of costume is, +in fact, only a defect in the eyes of antiquarians. The great mass of +society overlook it, and care only for what gratifies the eye and the +imagination. Nevertheless I would recommend to artists generally the +avoidance of subjects borrowed from ancient history. It is far easier +to excel in the folds and colourings of modern drapery, than to +delineate the light garb and native elegance of Grecian forms. Nor +could any painters, but those who lived in the times of Pericles and +Aspasia, do justice to those most classical and graceful of all +subjects. Oh! how I burn with impatient ardour to behold the storied +isles and continent of Greece! Their ancient splendour is no more, but +their pure and temperate clime still develops the noblest specimens of +the human race.”</p> + +<p>“Had our acquaintance commenced some years sooner,” said I, +interrupting him, “I could have gratified your wish. I accompanied my +father, who went to Greece on a mission from the republic, and I +remained three years on the classic soil of Homer and Sophocles. I was +too young to make the most of my opportunities, but I succeeded in my +attempts to master the modern language, and at the same time greatly +improved my knowledge of ancient Greek.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 25]</span></p><p>At these words my companion started impetuously from his chair, and +strained me in a vehement embrace.</p> + +<p>“Oh! rare and fortunate incident!” he exclaimed; “you are the +companion I have so long and vainly sought. A man so distinguished by +nobility of mind and person, and yet so young, it has never been my +good fortune to meet with. You will, you must be, the chosen friend of +my soul!”</p> + +<p>I could not but suspect that some mystery was involved in this abrupt +and somewhat premature tender of his friendship; but I returned his +embrace with grateful ardour. It was impossible to resist the +contagion of his impassioned and headlong feelings. I trembled with +emotion, and vainly endeavoured to express in connected language how +greatly I valued his good opinion. It was midnight when he left me, +promising a long and early visit on the succeeding day.</p> + +<p>I retired to bed in a state of excitement which banished sleep. To +subdue the vivid impression made upon me by the events of the day and +evening was impossible. I had, perhaps too unwarily, given a pledge of +fervent and enduring friendship to a man whose name and connections +were a mystery, and of whose character and previous life my ignorance +was absolute: but the singular charm of his language and deportment +was even enhanced by the obscurity which enveloped him, and I yielded +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 26]</span>unresistingly to the spell in which he had bound me.</p> + +<p>I had never yet beheld the man whose tastes and pursuits assimilated +so entirely with my own. He was, however, incomparably my superior in +natural and acquired advantages. He possessed more variety, more +fulness and accuracy of knowledge, and he displayed a vigour and +opulence of language which often rose with the occasion into the lofty +and impassioned eloquence of poetry. His soul was more expansive and +liberal than mine, but at the same time more uncontrolled, rash, and +intemperate. He had doubtless those defects, which, in Italy, often +accompany an ardent and impetuous character; and, under strong +provocation, he would not hesitate probably to inflict an unsparing +and formidable revenge: but surely a generous heart and a commanding +intellect will redeem many failings, and even palliate those desperate +alternatives to which men of noble nature and of pure intention are +sometimes impelled by the defects of our social institutions.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<p>At an early hour on the following morning I heard the emphatic tread +of the young painter in the corridor. In a moment he entered my +apartment, and his appearance renewed in some degree <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 27]</span>my emotion. “Our +feelings had too much of lyric riot in them last night,” said he, +smiling; “such excitement is exhausting, and cannot be long sustained +without approximation to fever. I shall never learn moderation in my +attachments, but I am resolved to lower the expression of them to a +more temperate standard; and with this object I will, if agreeable to +you, endeavour to create occupation for our intellects as well as our +feelings.”</p> + +<p>He then inquired if I had practised drawing, and to what extent. I +told him that I had been in the habit of sketching the fine lake and +mountain scenery of Lombardy; but that my ambition was to draw the +human figure from living models, which I regarded as the only avenue +by which any degree of excellence could be attained.</p> + +<p>“If you will accept of my assistance,” he replied, “we can immediately +commence a course of elementary studies of the human figure; after +which,” added he sportively, “you may employ me as a model. In return +for my instructions in painting, you must promote my ardent wish to +attain a competent knowledge of modern Greek. I have a sacred duty to +perform in one of the Greek islands, and shall proceed there in the +ensuing autumn.”</p> + +<p>“We cannot effectually realise your suggestion,” I rejoined, “unless +we abandon for a while the riot and revelry of Venice. My father is at +present in Dalmatia, and I am pledged to pass the summer <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 28]</span>in the +country with my excellent and respected mother, who is preparing for +departure, and will probably quit Venice at the close of the present +week. The villa we inhabit during the summer heats is in the most +charming district of Lombardy, and near the spot where the rapid +Mincio receives the pure waters of the lake of Garda. You must +accompany me to this earthly paradise, where we can enjoy the cool +breezes from the lake and mountains, and explore the bright scenery of +its classic shores and the peninsula of Sirmio, sung in glowing verse +by Catullus. There we can repose under the dark umbrage of orange and +myrtle groves, drink deep of the beauties of Pindar, and bind our +temples with wreaths of laurel. But I have not yet introduced you to +my mother. She is aware that a stranger saved me from a watery death +in the harbour, and will welcome gratefully the preserver of her only +son. She has a fine taste for pictures, and is an enthusiastic admirer +of beautiful Madonnas. If you will paint one for her private chapel, +and subdue in some measure the impetuous ardour of your deportment in +her presence, she will receive and cherish you as a son.”</p> + +<p>While thus addressing him, I perceived a sudden contraction of his +fine features, indicative of strong internal emotion, the mystery of +which was not developed for a considerable period after this +conversation. At length he approached me, and, with <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 29]</span>a look of intense +interest, inquired how near my father’s villa was to Peschiera on the +lake of Garda. “Within a league of it,” I replied. Again he paced the +apartment in silent abstraction, when suddenly his eagle-eye was +lighted up with more than its wonted fire, and he exclaimed with +animation, “Agreed! I will accompany you to Lombardy, and should I +prove acceptable to your mother as a guest, I will paint a Madonna for +her chapel. On my discretion, and my respect for her habits and +feelings, you may rely.”</p> + +<p>On the succeeding day I introduced him to my mother. The elegant +freedom of his address, and the spirit and originality of his +conversation, made an immediate and favourable impression upon my +beloved parent; and she afterwards acknowledged to me that, +independently of his noble exterior, and his powerful claim upon her +gratitude, she had never been so strongly prepossessed. It was on this +occasion that he named himself Colonna. Since his refusal to reveal +his name on the first day of our acquaintance, I had never repeated +the inquiry. Subsequently, however, I discovered that this appellation +had been assumed under circumstances of a disastrous and compulsory +nature. After his interview with my mother, I accompanied him to his +abode, where I was gratified with a view of the paintings and sketches +which he had executed in Venice. His figures were fresh and masterly; +his <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 30]</span>colouring had all the brilliant glow of the Venetian painters; +while his bold and beautiful designs betrayed, as I had anticipated, +the accurate drawing of the Tuscan school. His studies were from the +antique, and from Italian life: naked figures, or with little drapery; +female heads abounding with expression and loveliness; arms and legs, +backs and busts; naked boys, bathing, running, and wrestling. He +intimated that he had never yet painted for emolument, nor for the +gratification of others; and added, carelessly, “what farther concerns +me shall be revealed to you in our hours of leisure by the lake of +Garda.”</p> + +<p>On the appointed morning we quitted Venice. Our bark issued from the +grand canal at an early hour, glided silently over the smooth surface +of the laguna, and approached the entrance of the Brenta. The sun was +rising in veiled and purple majesty through the soft mists of a summer +morning, and the towers and churches of Venice appeared floating in +thin vapour. Colonna ascended the deck, and, folding his arms, gazed +with evident emotion on the “City of Palaces,” until it disappeared +behind a bank of fog. His chest heaved with some powerful sympathy, +and, for a moment, tears suffused his eyes and veiled their +brightness. His manner implied, I thought, some painful recollections, +or a presentiment that he should never behold Venice again. To me our +departure was a source of relief <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 31]</span>and enjoyment. In the winter season +Venice is a cheerful and desirable abode, because the population is +dense, and the local peculiarities contribute greatly to promote +public and private festivity: but, during the heats of summer and the +exhalations of autumn, no place is more offensive and pestilential.</p> + +<p>At Padua we separated from my mother, who proceeded with her domestics +by the direct road to Peschiera, while Colonna and I made a deviation +to Vicenza, whither we journeyed on foot; a mode of travelling the +most favourable to colloquial enjoyment, and to an accurate and +comprehensive view of the country. We found the numerous edifices of +Palladio in Vicenza and its vicinity in many respects unworthy of that +noble architect; many of them are indeed remodelled fronts of old +houses, in which the pure taste of the artist was warped by the want +of capability in the original elevations. The palaces built after his +designs are deficient in extent and variety, and may be termed +experimental models, rather than effective illustrations, of his +chaste and classical conceptions. In his triumphal arch at the +entrance of the Campo Marzo we found much to admire, and not less in +his beautiful bridge which spans the Bacchiglione. How bold, and +light, and elegant the arch, like the daring leap of a youthful +amazon! And how cheerful the open balustrade, through which the <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 32]</span>clear +and sparkling waters are seen rolling their rapid course to the +adjacent city!</p> + +<p>It is in Venice that the fine genius of Palladio develops all its +supremacy. The Cornaro palace on the grand canal, and the unfinished +convent of La Carità, are splendid efforts of pure taste in design and +decoration; and as perfect in execution and finish as if cast in a +mould. His churches too, especially that glorious edifice, Al +Redentore—how simple in design, and yet how beautifully effective and +harmonious in proportion and outline!</p> + +<p>We proceeded on the following morning to Verona, which excited a +stronger interest than Vicenza by its classical associations and +striking position on the river Adige, a lively daughter of the Alps. +Rushing from her mountain bed, she urges her rapid and devious course +through the city, dividing it into two portions, connected by the +bridge of Scaliger. This fine edifice rises on bold arches, wider, and +more heroic, and more scientific, than that of the Rialto, the wonder +of Venice, which is indeed no bridge, but a huge and inconvenient +staircase.</p> + +<p>Pursuing as we journeyed onward the subject of architecture, I +commented on the insignificant appearance of the temples of Pantheism, +when compared with the majestic cathedrals for which the Christian +world is indebted to the barbarians of the middle ages.</p> + +<p>“The Greeks and Romans,” observed Colonna, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 33]</span>“erected a temple to each +individual of their numerous deities. These buildings were +consequently of limited extent, and their columns of corresponding +proportions. The citizens sacrificed singly to the gods, or attended +public festivals, comprehending large masses of the people; in which +event the officiating priest or priestess entered the temple, and the +assembled votaries were grouped without. In our churches, on the +contrary, the population of a city is often congregated for hours; and +how magnificently adapted for this object is the vast and solemn +interior of a Gothic cathedral, in which the voice of the priest +reverberates like thunder, and the chorus of the people rises like a +mountain-gust, praising the great Father of all, and rousing the +affrighted conscience of the infidel; while the mighty organ, the +tyrant of music, rages like a hurricane, and rolls his deep floods of +sound in sublime accompaniment! How grand were the conceptions of the +rational barbarians, to whom Europe is indebted for these vast and +noble structures! And how immeasurably they surpass, for all +meditative and devotional objects, the modern application of Greek and +Roman temples, on an enlarged scale, to the purposes of Christian +worship! Had any necessity existed to borrow designs from these +sources, we should rather have modelled our churches from their +theatres, the plan of which is admirably <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 34]</a></span>fitted for oratorical +purposes, and for the accommodation of numbers.”</p> + +<p>We accomplished the last portion of our journey during a night of +superlative beauty. A brilliant and nearly full moon glided with us +through long avenues of lofty elms, linked together by the clustering +tendrils of vines, festooned from tree to tree, and at this season +prodigal of foliage. The coruscations of distant lightning shot +through the clear darkness of Italian night; the moon and evening +star, and Sirius and Orion, soared above us in pure ether, and seemed +to approach our sphere like guardian spirits. The cool breezes which +usher in the dawn now began to whisper through the foliage; a light +vapour arose in the east; and the soft radiance of the first sunbeams +faintly illumined the horizon as we arrived at our destination. Here +the romantic lake of Garda lay expanded before us; its broad surface +ruffled by the mountain breeze, and gleaming like silver in the +moonlight. The waves were heaving in broken and foaming masses, and +reverberated along the rocky shores, finely illustrating the accuracy +of Virgil’s descriptive line:</p> + +<p class="center">“Fluctibus et fremitu assurgens marino.”</p> + +<p>I retired immediately to rest, not having slept for the preceding +twenty-four hours; while Colonna preferred a morning walk, and +wandered out to view the environs. In the course of the day we +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 35]</span>completed our domestic arrangements. My friend occupied a saloon on +the north side of the villa, which commanded an extensive prospect, a +light favourable for painting, and private egress into the open +country; an accommodation which he requested, that his rambling and +irregular habits might occasion no inconvenience to the other inmates +of the mansion.</p> + +<p>After a few days had been devoted to excursions upon and around the +lake, and over the picturesque hills as far as Brescia, we commenced a +more useful and methodical distribution of our time. Colonna began and +completed the sketch of a Madonna for my mother, that he might work +upon it at his leisure; and we read together the Greek poets and +historians: nor did I forget to avail myself of my friend’s proffered +assistance to improve my knowledge of drawing and design. Under his +masterly guidance I persevered in drawing geometrical figures until I +could trace them with quickness, freedom, and accuracy. He then +annoyed me for a brief interval with skeletons and anatomical +subjects, directing my attention to the articulation of the joints and +the insertion of the muscles; after which I proceeded to copy his fine +studies of human limbs, both round and muscular, and in the various +attitudes of action and repose. Finally, I began to sketch from living +models, and was pursuing my object with ardour and success, when a +tragical <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 36]</span>event severed me for a considerable period from my beloved +tutor and friend.</p> + +<p>It had been arranged between us that each should, in his habits, be +perfectly uncontrolled, and independent of the other. Our excursions +were alternately separate, and in company, and Colonna was often +absent from the villa for one or more days and nights, without +exciting observation or surprise.</p> + +<p>He delighted in ranging over the green pastures of Lombardy, hedged in +by lofty trees, festooned with vines, and irrigated by transparent +streams innumerable. The young Tuscan had never before seen nature in +a garb so lovely and inviting; he wandered through the picturesque +villages which margin or overhang the lake of Garda, sojourned with +the peasantry, and sketched their figures and costume. From these +rambles he would often return at sunset over the lake in a small bark, +crowned like a youthful Bacchus with vine leaves and ivy, and singing +wild Dithirambics to his guitar, while the surrounding villagers, by +whom he was idolised, followed him in their boats with shouts of joy +and festivity.</p> + +<p>During the cool nights which, in this hilly region, temper the sickly +heat of an Italian summer, we often wandered along the breezy shores +of our classic Benacus, or sought refreshment in its dark blue waters. +Colonna was an adept in the delightful exercise of swimming, and his +instructions soon <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 37]</span>imparted to me requisite skill and self-possession. +We plunged from the marble terraces of the villa into the delicious +element, cleaving its moonlit waves, and sporting over its wide +surface like water-gods.</p> + +<p>The Madonna for my mother was finished in August. The artist had +selected the incident of the flight into Egypt, and the mother of +Jesus was reposing in deep shade, under the giant arms and dense +foliage of a maple tree. In the middle distance, a few ilex and +cypress trees were effectively and naturally distributed. The +background was mountain scenery; and from a lofty cliff a river was +precipitated, in a bold and picturesque fall. The waters rebounded +from the gulf below in silver spray, and flowed through a verdant +level into a tranquil and beautiful lake. The most romantic features +of the wilderness around the lake of Garda were faithfully and +beautifully introduced; and the brilliant rays of a sun approaching +the horizon, threw a flood of gold over rock, and wood, and water. The +Madonna was a young and lovely woman, giving nourishment to her +first-born son, and bending over her pleasing task with delighted +attention. The head of the Virgin was after a sketch from life, but +developed and elevated in character, and invested with a breathing +tenderness, a hallowed innocence and purity of expression, which at +once thrilled and saddened the beholder. <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 38]</span>The boy was a model of +infantine beauty; he supported himself with one little hand on his +mother’s breast, which was partially veiled with red drapery, and he +had raised his cherub head and glossy curls from the sweet fount of +life, to look with bright and earnest gaze upon the glowing landscape. +The luxuriant brown hair of the Madonna was confined in a net, from +which a few locks had strayed over her brow and cheek; and her blue +mantle flowed with modest grace over her fine person, revealing, +through its light and well-distributed folds, the graceful and easy +position of the limbs. The eyes of both were radiantly bright, and in +the large, well-opened orbs of the infant Saviour, the painter had +introduced a something never seen in life—a premature and pathetic +seriousness, awfully indicative of his high and hallowed destiny. +Above the stately plane-tree were soaring three angels of more than +Grecian beauty; and their features, in which a sacred innocence of +look was blended with feminine grace and softness, reminded me +powerfully of that exquisite design in Raffaelle’s pictorial +Bible—the “three angels before Abraham’s threshold.”</p> + +<p>In the middle-distance the ass was grazing, and Joseph, whose features +the artist had borrowed from the well-chiselled head of an old +peasant, stood leaning on his staff, like a faithful servant who has +succeeded in rescuing from imminent peril the treasure <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 39]</span>intrusted to +him. The picture was upright and on a large scale; the Madonna and +Bambino were painted the size of life, and the rich colouring of the +heads and draperies was finely relieved by the local tints and highly +finished bark and leafage of the plane-tree, behind which the immense +landscape receded in wide and brilliant perspective.</p> + +<p>My mother was inexpressibly delighted with this valuable token of his +regard, and her affection for the highly-gifted painter became truly +maternal.</p> + +<p>About this period I remarked a mysterious change in the looks and +habits of Colonna. His prompt and flowing language gave place to a +moody and oppressive silence; his deportment was occasionally more +abrupt and impassioned; and his eloquent features betrayed some hidden +source of grief and perplexity. The increased duration and frequency +of his rambles from the villa excited at length my attention and +remonstrance. In justification, he pleaded, as before, that he was a +man of itinerant habits, and too mercurial in temperament to remain +long in any place. This explanation had now, however, ceased to be +satisfactory. Our intercourse was obviously less cordial and +incessant. He had of late rarely sought my society in his excursions, +and this circumstance, in connection with his altered look and manner, +made me suspect some change in his feelings towards me. I determined +to solve a mystery so painful and embarrassing, and succeeded <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 40]</span>ere +long in obtaining his confession, during a still and beautiful night, +a large portion of which we passed together in a myrtle arbour, which +crowned a cool eminence in the villa gardens. We had passed some hours +in this delicious solitude, enjoying the pure night-breeze, and +admiring the soft and silver tints diffused by an Italian moon over +the lake and landscape. Our spirits were elevated by wine, and song, +and conversation; and our hearts communed together, and expanded into +more than usual freedom and confidence. I described to him the fair +objects of several fleeting attachments, and acknowledged that my +experience of female excellence had never yet realised the +expectations I had formed. “I anticipated from you, however,” I +continued, “some illustrations of that wayward thing, the human heart. +A youth so ardent in feeling, and so adorned by nature and education, +must necessarily have had no limited experience of the tender passion; +and surely some of the beautiful heads in your portfolio have been +sketched from life, and <i>con amore</i>.”</p> + +<p>“I do not willingly,” he replied, “enter upon acknowledgments of this +nature. They tend to excite feelings of envy, and sometimes expose the +warmest friendship to a severe test. We have now, however, enjoyed +abundant opportunity to study the lights, and shades, and inmost +recesses of our respective characters, and as you have made me <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 41]</span>your +father-confessor, I shall no longer hesitate to repose in you a +responsive and unbounded confidence. Know, then, that I love, with all +the enthusiasm of a first passion, the most beautiful woman of her +time—that she is the only daughter of the proudest senator in +Venice—that she is no stranger to your family, and now resides within +a league of us. Her name is Laura Foscari; and she is, alas! the +destined and unwilling bride of the opulent Ercole Barozzo, governor +of Candia.”</p> + +<p>At this unexpected intelligence, I almost started on my feet with +astonishment. My consternation was too great for utterance, and I +listened with breathless and eager attention.</p> + +<p>“We became acquainted,” he continued, “by a singular accident. I had +long admired her as the most lovely woman in Venice. Her head has all +the beauty of a fine antique, lighted up by dark eyes of radiant +lustre, and heightened by a smile of magic power and sweetness. I have +more than once sketched her unrivalled features when she was kneeling +at church, and her fine eyes were upraised in devotional rapture. In +public places, and at mass, I had frequently seen her, and our eyes +had so often met, that she could not but learn from mine how fervently +I admired her. My endeavours to obtain an introduction as an artist to +her father and brothers had been unsuccessful, and at length I was +indebted to a fortunate incident for an opportunity <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 42]</span>of conversing +with her unobserved. One evening, near the close of the last Carnival, +I saw her enter with her friends the place of St Mark, near the new +church of San Geminiano. She wore only a half-mask, and her graceful +mien and fine person could not be disguised. My mask and domino were +similar to those of her youngest brother, who resembled me also +somewhat in person. The imperfect light and the confusion of the +assembled crowd separated her from her party; and while endeavouring +to rejoin them, she approached me, mistook me for her brother, put her +arm within mine, and with charming vivacity, whispered in my ear some +comments on the motley groups around us. You will readily conjecture +that I promptly availed myself of the brief and golden opportunity. I +glanced rapidly around, and finding that we were unobserved, I +partially raised my mask. She had so often observed me gazing upon her +with undisguised and rapturous admiration, that she recognised me at +once, and tacitly acknowledged it by a blush which suffused every +visible feature with crimson. In glowing and beautiful confusion she +attempted to withdraw her arm, but I retained it firmly, and in low +but emphatic tones, I told her that I had long loved her with +sincerity and ardour; that I could fairly boast of constancy and +discretion, of education and refinement; that no man so well +understood her value, or would encounter and endure so much <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 43]</span>to win +her affections. All this and more I poured into her ear with rapid and +glowing diction, and with the impassioned gesture which is natural to +me. Timid and irresolute, she accompanied me some paces, paused, and +in trembling emotion again attempted to withdraw her arm, but was +still urged forward by my impetuosity. At length, by a sudden effort, +she escaped; but, as she quitted, whispered with bewitching hesitation +and timidity—‘<i>To-morrow morning, at Santi Giovanni e Paolo.</i>’ Soon +as these words fell on my delighted ear, I plunged into the crowd of +masks, in token of my discretion and prompt obedience to her will. The +emotion excited by this early and unexpected proof of sympathy was so +rapturous and overwhelming, that I abandoned myself to all the +extravagance of sudden bliss. I flew on wings of ecstasy along the +streets, bounded over the stairs of the Rialto, and reached my abode +in a state of mind bordering on delirium. During that interminable but +delicious night I neither sought nor wished for repose. I felt as if I +had never known sleep—as if I should never sleep again; and, when my +waking dreams occasionally yielded to brief and agitated slumber, my +excited feelings called up a flitting train of images not less vivid +and enchanting.</p> + +<p>“Long before the commencement of the early mass, I had reached the +church indicated by the beauteous Laura. I was the first to enter it, +and I <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 44]</span>waited her arrival with an impatience which no words can +describe. Never had the celebration of the mass appeared to me so +wearisome and monotonous; and, in hopes to subdue in some measure the +wild agitation which chafed me, I withdrew the curtain which veiled +Titian’s divine picture of Pietro Martire, in which the saint lies +wounded and dying before his assassin. The companion of the prostrate +Pietro is endeavouring to escape a similar fate; and two angels, whose +features are not Italian but Greek, are soaring amidst the foliage, +environed with a heavenly lustre, which throws its bright effulgence +over the foreground of the immense landscape. What a masterpiece! How +full of animation and contrast! What rich and lively local tints in +the slender and graceful stems of the lofty chestnuts, which are +painted the size of nature! And how naturally the glorious landscape +fades into the blue and distant mountains! The half-naked murderer has +all the ferocity of a mountain bandit, in figure, attitude, and +menace; while the wounded saint exhibits in his pale and collapsed +features the dying agony of a good man, blended with a consciousness +that he has achieved the rewarding glories of martyrdom.</p> + +<p>“But no masterpiece could allay the glowing tumults of my soul, and +again I paced the church with feverish impatience. At length the +peerless Laura entered, and, alas, poor Titian! the charms <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 45]</span>of thy +creative pencil withered as she approached—the vivid splendours of +thy colouring faded before the paramount beauties of nature! She was +attired in the picturesque garb and head-dress of Venice; her veil was +raised; and her fine countenance, radiant with beauty and +intelligence, imparted life, dignity, and lustre to every surrounding +object.</p> + +<p>“She was accompanied by her mother, and after prostration before the +altar, they retired to their devotions in the body of the church. I +stood in a position which enabled me to observe every look and +gesture, and it did not escape me that Laura, while kneeling, cast a +look of supplication towards heaven, and sighed deeply. She soon +became conscious of my presence; and rising, she took a chair, and +fixed upon me a look so deeply penetrative, so fraught with tender +meaning, and yet so timidly, so truly modest, that every chord of +feeling in my frame was thrilled with sudden transport. To +uninterested observers her deportment was tranquil, but ere long I +could discern tokens of deep and anxious thought clouding her lovely +face. Her lips quivered as if in sympathy with some inward feeling of +doubt and apprehension, which at length subsided, and her angelic +features were suddenly irradiated with a tender and enchanting smile. +She then read for some time in her book, and marked a place in it with +a card, to which, by an expressive glance, she directed my attention. +The mass was <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 46]</span>concluded, the congregation quitted the church, and I +availed myself of the crowded portal to approach and take the card, +which she conveyed to me unperceived. I hastened from the spot, and +seized the first opportunity to read these words—‘<i>Two hours after +midnight, at the postern near the canal.</i>’ The card said no more; but, +to a lover, it spoke volumes.</p> + +<p>“These magic words, and the enchantress who had penned them, absorbed +every thought and feeling throughout the never-ending day. In the +evening, I passed and repassed the Foscari palace, until the shape and +position of every door and window were engraven on my memory. I +provided myself with weapons, ordered my gondolier to hold himself in +readiness, and at midnight I proceeded to the Piazza near Maria +Formosa. Enveloped in my mantle, I traversed the pavement with +feverish impetuosity for two hours, which appeared like ages. The +course of nature seemed to stagnate, and the constellations to pause +in their career, as if in mockery of my feelings. I walked with +increased rapidity, and even vaulted into the air with childish +eagerness as if to grasp the heavenly bodies, and accelerate their +lingering progress. At length the last quarter struck. I hastened +through the silent and deserted streets, and strode over the bridges +with a bound as vehement as if I would have spurned them from under +me. I soon arrived at the appointed <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 47]</span>postern, and waited, all eye and +ear, in a contiguous angle of the wall. Ere long the door was gently +opened, and I heard the music of an angel’s voice, bidding me enter +with noiseless steps, and beware of rousing her brothers, whose +violence would endanger my life. In obedient silence I followed her up +a dark staircase into a saloon adjoining the grand canal, and dimly +lighted by a single lamp. The enchanting Laura was attired in a white +robe of elegant simplicity, well fitted to display the perfect +symmetry and luxuriant fulness of her incomparable shape. Her head was +uncovered, and her waving tresses floated in rich profusion over her +shoulders and bosom. Thus unadorned, her beauty was so dazzling and +celestial, that I could have knelt and worshipped her as the Aphrodite +of the Adriatic Paphos. I gazed upon her until I became giddy with +admiration and rapture. Yielding to an irresistible impulse, I lost +all discretion—folded the lovely creature in my embrace—and +impressed a fervent kiss upon her coral lips.</p> + +<p>“‘Unhand me, daring youth!’ she exclaimed, her fine features flashing +with indignant eloquence as she repulsed me. ‘Remember that I am +Foscari’s daughter, and do me the justice to believe, that I have not +unadvisedly received you at an hour so unseemly. I was impelled to +this step not only by the regard due to your personal safety, but by +my implicit confidence in the honour of a cavalier. <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 48]</span>Think not, rash +youth! that a Foscari would condescend, like Bianca Capello, to an +obscure stranger. I know that you are not what you would seem. I know +that ‘Colonna the painter’ is but the outward shell which hides the +pearl and pride of the Florentine nobility. I have a friend in Venice +who is in confidential intercourse by letter with your aunt Veronica, +and from her I heard in secresy that the study of painting was not +your primary object in Venice, but assumed only to mask some more +important purpose.’</p> + +<p>“Mortified by the indiscretion of my aunt, and sensible of the fatal +consequences it might involve, I soon recovered some degree of +self-control, and apologised to the still offended Laura for the +inconsiderate freedom in which I had indulged. I then disclosed to her +some particulars of my previous history, and expressed, in ardent and +grateful terms my sense of the flattering distinction conferred upon +me by the loveliest woman in Venice.</p> + +<p>“‘Ah, Montalto!’ she replied, with glowing cheeks, and a look of +enchanting tenderness, ‘you know not the dreadful risk to which my +wish to become better acquainted with your merits exposes me. I am +watched with jealous and unceasing vigilance by an ambitious father, +whose sole object is the aggrandisement of his sons; and to the +accomplishment of this purpose he will not hesitate to sacrifice an +only and affectionate daughter. Destined <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 49]</span>to become the unwilling +bride of heartless opulence, or to the living sepulture of a convent, +and formed, by an affectionate mother, for every social and domestic +relation, there have been moments when I wished it had pleased Heaven +to cast my lot in free and humble mediocrity. My affections were then +unappropriated——’</p> + +<p>“She paused in blushing and beautiful embarrassment, but soon +resumed:—‘It would be affectation to deny that they are no longer so. +I must have been more than woman to have remarked, without some +responsive feeling, the obvious regard——’ Here she paused anew, the +rose of sweet confusion dyed her cheek more deeply than before, and +after a momentary struggle, she continued, with averted looks: ‘The +heroic cast and expression of your features, and the unembarrassed +ease and elegance of your deportment, bore the genuine stamp of +nobility by descent and education. The instinctive discrimination +peculiar to woman is often more accurate in its conclusions than the +boasted experience of man. Appearances taught me to suspect, that your +homely garb and professional pursuit were a delusion; and I heard with +more pleasure than surprise that my conjecture was well-founded.’</p> + +<p>“Such, my Angelo! was the ingenuous and flattering avowal of the +transcendent Laura Foscari, the pride of Venice, and paragon of her +sex. No words can portray the boundless gratitude and <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 50]</span>affection with +which she inspired me; nor will I attempt to describe the enchanting +grace and varied intelligence of her conversation during the brief and +delightful hour I remained with her. Too soon the breezes which +announce the dawn shook the windows of the saloon; a luminous streak +bordered the eastern sky; and Laura, starting suddenly from her chair, +bade me begone.</p> + +<p>“Thus terminated my first interview with this high-minded and +incomparable woman. To-morrow, should no obstacle intervene, I will +resume my narrative, and, at the same time, impart to you some +particulars of my family and early life.”</p> + +<p>We then returned to the villa, and separated for the night.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<p>If the opening of Colonna’s confession had excited surprise and +emotion, the incidents detailed in his interesting narrative were a +fertile source of anxiety and dismay. The veil of mystery was indeed +raised, but the scene disclosed was haunted by menacing appearances; +and I looked forward to the future with indescribable solicitude. The +vehemence of Colonna’s passions was alarming, and his impetuosity +would too probably betray him into formidable peril. After mature +consideration, however, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 51]</span>I determined to rest my hopes of a happy +termination to these difficulties upon his clear intellect, and his +noble and generous heart. I mentally renewed my vow of everlasting +friendship, and pledged myself to assist and defend him to the +uttermost, under all circumstances of difficulty and peril.</p> + +<p>On the following day we were surprised by an unwelcome visit from the +brothers and destined husband of Laura. She had previously accompanied +her mother more than once in a morning visit to our villa; but I had +never surmised sympathy, nor even acquaintance, between her and +Colonna, so skilfully did they preserve appearances. When he spoke of +her, it was invariably in the language of an artist. He admired the +rare and absolute symmetry of her face and form, in which she +surpassed every woman he had seen. He even remarked, with well-assumed +professional enthusiasm, how much it was to be regretted that her rank +and education precluded the possibility of her benefiting the arts as +a model. He deemed the proportions of her figure as admirable as those +of the Grecian Venus at Florence; and her head, arms, and hands as +greatly superior. On farther retrospection, I recollected to have +observed a richer glow on the cheek of Laura, whenever the lute of +Colonna vibrated from the villa-gardens; or, when his thrilling and +seductive voice sang some tender aria to the guitar.</p> + +<p>The younger Foscari was fascinated by the appearance <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 52]</span>and conversation +of Colonna, and expressed a wish to see his paintings. The party +proceeded to his saloon, and readily acknowledged his fine taste, and +evident promise of high excellence. Barozzo alone, a man of large +stature, of haughty deportment, and of a repulsive and sinister +aspect, assumed the critic; and betrayed, by his uncouth remarks, an +utter ignorance of fine art. Colonna, however, with admirable +self-possession, preserved the unassuming deportment of a young +artist, ambitious of patronage; spoke of the extreme difficulty of +attaining excellence in his profession, and gravely complimented +Barozzo upon the accuracy of his judgment. The haughty senator was +gratified and won by an admission so flattering to his pride; and +condescended to request that Colonna would paint the portraits of his +bride and himself. The young painter bit his lip as he bowed his +acknowledgments; but expressed his high sense of the honour conferred, +and his conviction that the portraits, if successful, would powerfully +recommend him to the nobles of Venice, and prove a certain avenue to +fame and fortune. It was agreed that, on an early day, Colonna should +proceed with the requisite materials to the villa Foscari, and +commence the portrait of Laura; after which, the cavaliers mounted +their horses, and returned home.</p> + +<p>To prevent a similar interruption on the succeeding day from any other +quarter, I agreed with <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 53]</span>Colonna to rise with the sun, and proceed over +the lake into the mountains, with provisions for the day. We met at +early dawn; and the birds were caroling their morning hymn, as, with +expanded sail, our bark bounded lightly across the lake. Ere long we +saw the god of day peeping with golden brow above the ridge of Monte +Baldo; then, majestically advancing over the mountains near Verona, he +poured a flood of bright and glowing beauty over the immense +landscape. The water was partially concealed by the vapours of +morning, and mists of purple hue floated like regal canopies above the +cliffs, while a light breeze, rippling the centre of the lake, +dispersed its tranquil slumber, and roused it into life and beauty. +The peninsula of Sirmio lay basking in sunny radiance before us; and +the mountains beyond displayed the grandeur of their immeasurable +outline, varied by prominent and rugged masses, which were piled up in +chaos like Ossa on Pelion. The eastern sky was robed in vapours of +rosy tint; light clouds of pearly lustre floated in tranquil beauty +through the heavens; and the Alpine eagles were careering in joyous +and sweeping circles amid the pure ether.</p> + +<p>Certainly the lake of Garda displays a rare combination of the +beautiful and sublime. The shores abound in the wild and majestic, in +variety and beauty of local tints, and picturesque vicissitudes of +light and shade; while the olive-crowned Sirmio, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 54]</span>like the +island-realm of a Calypso, reposes in regal pride upon the waters, and +seems to hold in vassalage the opposite shores and amphitheatre of +mountains.</p> + +<p>There have been some days in my existence which will ever be dear to +my memory, and this was one of them. It was a cool and delicious +morning in the beginning of October; my senses were refreshed with +sleep; I was awake to the calm and holy influences of nature; and I +anticipated the promised narrative of Colonna’s early life with a +lively interest, which imparted new zest to every feeling, and new +beauty to the glowing landscape. It was still early when we landed +under the cliff, and availed ourselves of the dewy freshness of the +morning to ascend a rugged path, which conducted us to a sequestered +grove of beech and chestnut. From a crevice in the base of a rock, +feathered with flowering creepers, issued a limpid spring, which, +after dispensing coolness and verdure to the grove, rolled onward with +mild and soothing murmurs to the lower levels. Plunging our +wine-flasks into the pure element where it burst into life from the +parent rock, we extended ourselves on the soft grass, and dismissed +our boatmen, with orders to return at sunset. I then reminded Colonna +of his promise to reveal to me some particulars of his early fortunes; +and after a pause, during which his features were slightly convulsed, +as if by painful recollections, he thus began:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 55]</span></p><p>“I am the sole survivor of one of the most illustrious families in +Florence. My father was Leone di Montalto; and my mother was of the +persecuted and noble race of the Albizi. They are both deceased; and I +remain a solitary mourner, their first and only child. My mother died +the day after my birth, and my father grieved for her long and +sincerely; but the lapse of years, and frequent absences from Florence +in the naval service of the state, healed his wounded spirit; and in +an evil hour he became deeply enamoured of Isabella, third daughter of +Cosmo de’ Medici, the tyrant of unhappy Florence. She was the wife of +Paul Orsini, the Roman, who, without any formal repudiation, had +abandoned her, and resided entirely in Rome. This extraordinary woman +was distinguished throughout Italy for personal beauty and rare +intellectual accomplishment. Her conversation not only sparkled with +wit, grace, and vivacity, but was full of knowledge and originality; +and her great natural powers had been so highly cultivated, that she +conversed with fluency in French, Spanish, and even in Latin. She +performed with skill on various instruments—sang like a Siren, and +was an admirable improvisatrice. Thus highly gifted and adorned by +nature and education, she was the idol of Cosmo, and ruled his court +like a presiding goddess. Her time and her affections being +unoccupied, she did not discourage the attentions of my father, who +was one <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 56]</span>of the most elegant and accomplished men of his time, and +blended the grace of a courtier with the free and gallant bearing of a +distinguished commander. The dormant sensibilities of Isabella were +soon awakened by the enthusiastic fervour of his attachment; and their +secret intelligence had subsisted some time, when it was discovered by +the jealous and vindictive Cosmo. My unfortunate parent was +immediately arrested and imprisoned, but effected his escape, fled to +Venice, and from thence to the Levant. His estates were confiscated +under the pretext of treasonable practices; and I found a refuge and a +home under the roof of my widowed aunt, Veronica Della Torre.</p> + +<p>“The heartless and meretricious Isabella relinquished my father +without a sigh, or a struggle to save him, and consoled herself with +court-pageantry, and a succession of new lovers, many of whom were +sacrificed by her cunning and ruthless father. As a selfish +voluptuary, and the destroyer of his country’s liberty, Cosmo has been +compared with Augustus; but in gratuitous and deliberate cruelty, he +far surpasses his prototype.</p> + +<p>“I was indebted to neglect and accident for the best of all +educations. My father loved and cherished me; but his domestic +calamity, his frequent absences from Florence, and, subsequently, his +pursuit of Isabella, interfered with the customary course of +education, and saved me from the despotism <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 57]</span>of a regular tutor, and +from the debasing tyranny, the selfish and vulgar profligacy, of those +institutions of monkery called public academies.</p> + +<p>“It was surely the intention of Providence that the faculties of early +life should not be strained by labours hostile to the healthful growth +of mind and body, and that the heart, the senses, and the principles +should alone be tutored in the first ten years of life. And yet how +egregiously has the folly of the creature perverted the benevolent +purpose of the Creator! With thoughtless, heartless indifference he +commits his tender offspring to the crushing tyranny of pedants and +task-masters, who rack and stupify the imperfect brain by vain +attempts to convey dead languages through a dead medium, and inflict +upon their helpless pupils the occult mysteries of grammar, which is +the philosophy of language, and intelligible only to ripened +faculties. Ask the youth who has toiled in prostration of spirit +through the joyless years of school existence in the preparatory +seminaries of Italy—bid him look back upon his tedious pilgrimage, +and weigh the scanty knowledge he has won against the abundant +miseries he has endured from the harsh discipline of monkish tutors, +and the selfish brutality of senior class-fellows! His pride may +prompt him to deny, but in honesty and fairness he must admit, that +the established system of education is <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 58]</span>radically vicious; that his +attainments are meagre and superficial; that his knowledge of the +world is selfishness and cunning; and that, to rise above the herd of +slaves and dunces, he must give himself a second and widely different +education; more liberal, comprehensive, and practical.</p> + +<p>“It was my happier fate to enjoy, until the age of ten, unbounded +liberty. I associated with boys of my own age, selecting for frequent +intercourse those most distinguished by strength of body, resource of +mind, and a lofty and determined spirit. I disdained to be outdone in +feats of bodily activity, and persevered with inflexible ardour until +I surpassed all my competitors in running, wrestling, and swimming, +and in every species of juvenile and daring exploit.</p> + +<p>“From my aunt, who was an accomplished and high-minded woman, I +learned to read and write, and gained with ease and pleasure a more +than elementary knowledge of history; and when I had attained the age +of twelve, my father, who was an able and distinguished commander, +took me for three years on board his galley, in frequent cruises +against the Corsairs. These voyages had a powerful and salutary +influence upon my habits and character; the daily contemplation of the +world of waters expanded and exalted my imagination; while the +enlightened converse and daily instructions of my noble father, the +regular discipline <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 59]</span>observed on board the galley, and occasional +exposure to danger in tempests or in contact with an enemy, induced +energy and concentration of thought, decision and promptitude in +action, contempt of fatigue and hardship, and a degree of +self-possession which no common dangers could either daunt or +disconcert.</p> + +<p>“At the age of fifteen I returned to Florence, abandoned all boyish +pursuits, and commenced a more regular and elaborate course of +education. I had accumulated a store of ideas and associations which +enabled me to apply my faculties with facility to every desirable +attainment. The transition from material objects to the world of +spirits is natural and easy. I had already investigated with deep +interest the histories of Greece and Rome; I now studied with ardour +and success the languages of those high-minded nations; and, ere long, +perused with insatiable delight the pages of those master-spirits +whose glorious names blaze like constellations through the dark night +of antiquity.</p> + +<p>“My early and ruling passion for the liberal arts, and especially for +painting and architecture, induced me to seek the instructions of +Giorgio Vasari. As an artist he had never produced an original design, +but he was an able teacher; and, notwithstanding his prejudices, he +was unquestionably a man of refined taste and extensive knowledge. The +garrulous old painter was delighted <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 60]</span>with the glow of my enthusiasm, +and failed not to fan the flame with abundant encouragement.</p> + +<p>“My indulgent father was induced, by the exuberant praises of Vasari, +to permit my devotion of some hours daily to his instructions; but the +year before his imprisonment and flight, he took the precaution to +introduce me to a literary circle, eminent for clearness of intellect, +and a sound and liberal philosophy. Intercourse with men of this class +modified, in a considerable degree, my habits and opinions; but it +could not for a moment weaken my devotion to that sublime art which +has ennobled modern Italy, and raised it from prostration and contempt +to moral dignity and grandeur.</p> + +<p>“Several years elapsed after my father’s escape, without bringing us +any intelligence of his fate. This mysterious silence was a source of +intense anxiety. Florence was hateful to me, and my impatience to +rejoin my beloved parent became at length too vehement to be +controlled any longer by the remonstrances of my aunt. I keenly felt +all the injustice exercised by the tyrannous and reckless Cosmo +against my family, and my departure was accelerated by the intimation +from a friend at court that my proceedings were watched by the secret +agents of the usurper, and that any unguarded expression of political +discontent, would be the signal of my incarceration, and, too +probably, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 61]</span>of banishment or death. I quitted Florence unobserved, +changed my name, and proceeded to Venice, intending, while I pursued +my inquiries after my father, to study the works of Titian, and to +avail myself of the instructions of Tintorett and Paul Veronese. The +latter honoured me with his friendship, and the venerable Titian +encouraged me to visit him. I succeeded in my endeavours to cheer, +with poetry and music, the declining spirits of the benevolent old +man. He became attached to me, and finding that I had a painter’s eye, +he imparted to me some invaluable secrets of his art, a compliment the +more gratifying and important, because it opened to me a source of +honourable and independent provision, in case my paternal estate +should never be restored to me.</p> + +<p>“Last autumn I received intelligence from Florence that my father had +entered the service of your republic on his arrival in the Levant, and +had received the appointment of captain in the garrison of Candia, +under General Malatesta, a Florentine, whose son had been assassinated +by order of Cosmo, on the discovery of an intrigue between this youth +and his eldest daughter, Maria de’ Medici. Nor did the hapless female +escape the vengeance of her cruel parent. Her death was premature, and +attended with circumstances which amounted to the clearest evidence +that she was poisoned by her monstrous and unnatural parent. I had +completed <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 62]</span>my preparations for departure, and waited only a change of +wind to sail for Candia, when I received from my aunt the +heart-rending communication that my father had shared the fate of +young Malatesta, and been assassinated some years since, at the +instigation of the ferocious Cosmo. This intelligence fell upon my +soul like a thunderbolt. The wound which my beloved father’s +disappearance had inflicted on my happiness opened anew, and my +lacerated heart bled at every core. I vowed implacable hatred and +deadly vengeance against the prime mover and every subordinate agent +in this atrocious murder of my noble parent. He was a great and +admirable man, and I shall never cease to venerate his memory, and +lament his untimely death. For many months, life was an intolerable +burden to me, and I endured existence only in the hope of avenging +him. The cruel instigator, Cosmo, was, alas! equally beyond the reach +of my personal defiance and of my dagger. Hedged round by guards and +minions, and compelled by his infirmities to seclude himself within +the recesses of his palace, every attempt to approach him would have +been vain, and my youthful and unenjoyed existence would have been +sacrificed without an equivalent. Nor have I yet been able to trace +the agents of his bloody will; but my investigations have been +vigilant and unceasing, and revenge, although delayed, is ripening +over their heads.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 63]</span></p><p>Here the noble youth was checked in his narrative by a sudden burst of +agony, which defied all disguise and control. Tears rolled in rapid +succession down his cheeks, and his manly chest heaved with the +audible sobs of bitter and deeply-seated anguish. Springing hastily +from the turf, he threw himself on the margin of the stream, and +immersed his face in its pure waters, to cool the fever of his burning +cheeks. Surely there is no sorrow like the sorrow of a resolute and +high-minded man. The sobs of woman in affliction awake our tenderest +sympathies, but they do not shake our souls like the audible anguish +of man. To see the iron frame of such a being as Colonna heaving with +loud and convulsive agony, was so truly appalling, that no time will +erase the deep impression from my memory.</p> + +<p>I respected his grief too much to interrupt it by premature attempts +at consolation; but when he arose, I embraced him in silent sympathy, +and endeavoured to direct the current of his thoughts from the bitter +past to a brighter future. I spoke of the advanced age and broken +constitution of the licentious Cosmo, and inferred, from the mild and +amiable character of his son, a speedy restoration to rank and +property. I dwelt upon his own pre-eminence in strength of mind, and +in every natural and acquired advantage; and I predicted that, in +defiance of adverse circumstances, he would, by his <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 64]</span>own unassisted +efforts, accomplish a high and brilliant destiny. I proposed to obtain +for him, through my father’s influence, a naval command in the service +of Venice, or a powerful recommendation to the valiant Genoese, +Giovanni Doria.</p> + +<p>He thanked me, with a look full of eloquent meaning, but made no +comment on my proposal. After a brief pause, he subdued his emotion, +and exclaimed, with a melancholy smile,—“Happy Venetians and Genoese! +<i>Your</i> liberties have not been basely destroyed by an individual +family, as those of Tuscany by the Medici. Your glorious republics +adorn the east and west of Italy with splendid achievements, while +Florence, once the pride and glory of our country, lies prostrate in +mourning and in slavery, betrayed and manacled by her unnatural sons!”</p> + +<p>I availed myself of this apostrophe to make some comments upon the +history of these distinguished republics, and insensibly drew Colonna +into a discussion which was prolonged until the increasing heat made +us sensible of the want of refreshment. The sun had reached the +meridian, and the centre of the lake below, still fretted by the +mountain breeze, was seething and glittering in the sunbeams, like a +huge cauldron of melted silver, while the smooth and crystal surface +near its shores reflected, like a mirror, projecting and receding +cliffs of every form and elevation, crowned with venerable <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 65]</span>trees, and +fringed with gay varieties of vegetable ornament. The timid and +transparent lizards darted playfully around us, and golden beetles +buzzed on heavy wings in the foliage above, while the light +grasshoppers chirped their multitudinous chorus of delight, and +myriads of gay and glittering insects held their jubilee in the +burning atmosphere. Amidst this universal carnival of nature, we +reclined in deep shade, soothed by the tinkling music of the stream, +and enjoying the dewy freshness which exhaled from its translucent +waters. The inspiring juice of the Cyprus grape, and a light repast, +rapidly recruited the strength and spirits of Colonna. Bounding +vigorously from the green turf, he gazed with delight through the aged +stems upon the bright landscape, and exclaimed, with glowing +enthusiasm,—“All-bounteous Providence! Creator of the glorious sun +and teeming earth! how supremely blest were thy creatures, did they +not embitter so much good by crime and folly!”</p> + +<p>After a brief pause of rapturous contemplation, we resumed our +wine-flasks, our cheerfulness rose into exhilaration, and we reposed +like sylvan deities in the green shade, enjoying the elasticity and +freshness of youthful existence, forgetful of the past and regardless +of the future. But this daydream was too delightful to last. I +recollected that I had not heard the sequel of Colonna’s adventures +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 66]</span>in Venice, and I broke the spell by whispering in his ear the name of +“Laura.”</p> + +<p>“Alas!” he replied, with visible emotion, “I fear this incomparable +woman will never be mine, unless miracle or magic should interpose to +vanquish the many obstacles to our union. Our interviews in Venice +were attended with such imminent hazard of discovery, as to render +them brief and of rare occurrence. My adored Laura was in the morning +of life, and with the creative imagination of early youth, she +cherished sanguine hopes that the death of the infirm Cosmo would, ere +long, enable me to resume rank and property, and to demand her openly +of her father. Until then, my resources were merely adequate to my +personal support, being limited to a small maternal estate, left under +the friendly guardianship of my aunt.</p> + +<p>“Nevertheless, plans of elopement were frequently discussed, and I +vehemently urged her to become mine, and to accompany me to Greece, +from whence, after I had accomplished a momentous object, we could +embark for Marseilles, and proceed to Paris, where my skill as a +painter, in addition to my maternal estate, would preserve us from +indigence. As she did not peremptorily forbid me to expect her consent +to this scheme, I ventured to build upon it; but when my preparations +for flight were completed, her resolution failed, and I discovered, in +the deeply-rooted attachment <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 67]</span>of Laura to her mother, an insuperable +obstacle to the accomplishment of my purpose. For this kind and +indulgent parent her affection was all but idolatrous; and when she +told me, with tearful eyes and throbbing bosom, that her beloved +mother was in precarious health, that she was entirely dependent on +her only daughter for earthly happiness, and that the loss of that +daughter would destroy her, I must have been dead to every generous +and disinterested feeling had I not complied with her earnest +entreaty, that we should await a more favourable course of events.</p> + +<p>“Meanwhile the distinguished beauty and numberless graces of Laura +attracted many suitors. Some of these were not ineligible, and one of +them especially, young Contarini—whose passion for her was ardent, +almost to frenzy—was a man of noble qualities, of prepossessing +exterior, and of equal rank, but, as you well know, too moderately +endowed with the gifts of fortune. Every proposal was, however, +promptly rejected by the ambitious Foscari, who, like a cold and +calculating trader, measured the merits of each suitor by the extent +of his possessions. At length, after the conclusion of the war with +Turkey in the spring, arrived from Greece the governor of Candia, +Ercole Barozzo, whose splendid establishment and lavish expenditure +attracted universal attention. His originally large possessions had +been swelled into princely <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 68]</span>opulence by clandestine traffic with the +enemy, and by every species of cruelty and exaction. His wife and two +infant sons had fallen victims to the plague in the Levant; and being +desirous of children to inherit his vast possessions, he surveyed the +fair daughters of Venice, and was quickly fascinated by the +superlative beauty of Laura Foscari, who shone unrivalled in a city +distinguished for the beauty of the softer sex. Barozzo was not a +suitor to be rejected by her sordid father; and, without any appeal to +his daughter’s inclinations, her hand was promised to a man of more +than twice her age, forbidding in his exterior, coarse and revolting +in his manners, and utterly destitute of redeeming qualities. I had +determined, before my acquaintance with you commenced, to make +occasional visits during the summer to Peschiera, and I hesitated to +accept your proposal, from an apprehension that it would impede my +interviews with Laura. On farther consideration, however, I perceived +that my abode under your roof would not be incompatible with nocturnal +visits to the Villa Foscari, and I became your guest. My interviews +with Laura have been more frequent in this quiet and rural district, +than in the narrow streets and numerous obstacles of Venice. The wide +extent of her father’s garden enables me to scale the wall +unperceived, and to reach a garden saloon communicating by a covered +trellice walk with the villa. Laura’s abhorrence <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 69]</span>of the presuming and +insolent Barozzo has proved a powerful auxiliary to my renewed +entreaties that she would fly with me from the miseries which menace +her, and I have recently succeeded in obtaining her reluctant consent +to accompany me to Genoa, and from thence to Greece. A fortnight hence +is appointed for the celebration of her marriage to the wretch who +basely wooes her, with a consciousness of her unqualified antipathy to +his person and character. If the strong attachment of Laura to her +mother does not again baffle my hopes, we shall effect our escape +three days before the one appointed for her marriage with Barozzo; but +I can discern too well, through her invincible dejection, that she is +still balancing the dreadful alternatives of a marriage abhorrent to +her feelings, and the abandonment of her mother.”</p> + +<p>Such was the tale of Colonna’s brief, but trying and calamitous +career. Deeply as I lamented his approaching departure, I felt too +much interested in his success to withhold my active co-operation, and +I pledged myself to promote his views as far as I could, without +openly compromising myself with the Foscari family; but I entreated +him to relinquish his design of painting the portraits of Laura and +Barozzo, from an apprehension that a lover so fervent and +demonstrative would, in some unguarded moment, excite suspicion, and +frustrate the accomplishment of his ultimate views. He <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 70]</span>thanked me for +the ready zeal with which I had entered into his feelings, and assured +me that he had no intention of proceeding beyond the outlines of the +governor’s portrait; but that, as a lover and an artist, he could not +deny himself the gratification of portraying the matchless form and +features of the woman he adored.</p> + +<p>The day was declining when we quitted our cool retreat to ascend the +mountain behind us, and inhale the pure breezes which played around +its summit. We gazed with long and lingering delight upon the bright +landscapes of Lombardy, as they glowed beneath us in the parting +sunbeams, and the shades of night were fast falling around us when we +crossed the lake on our return to the villa.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<p>Early on the following morning, the younger brother of Laura called to +request the promised attendance of Colonna at the Villa Foscari, and I +determined to accompany him, hoping, by my presence, to remind the +young painter of the necessity of exercising a vigilant control over +his feelings. The precaution was, however, unnecessary. He sustained, +with singular self-mastery, the demeanour of an artist and a stranger; +and appeared, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 71]</span>while sketching the form and features of his lovely +mistress, to have no other object than to seize the most important and +characteristic peculiarities of his model. He requested that she would +occasionally walk round the saloon, and freely indulge in familiar +converse with her friends, as if no artist were present. His object +was, he added, to accomplish, not a tame and lifeless copy, but a +portrait, stamped with those peculiar attributes and graces which are +best elicited by a free and unconstrained movement of limb and +feature.</p> + +<p>Thus admirably did he mask the lover, and assume the look and language +of an artist ambitious to recommend himself to opulent employers.</p> + +<p>The sensitive and unhappy Laura had less command over her feelings, +and I could occasionally observe a furtive glance beaming from her +dark and humid eye upon the elegant painter; but when she addressed +him, it was with the air and language of condescension to one whose +services might be purchased; thus endeavouring to disguise the strong +and almost irrepressible emotion which quivered beneath the surface.</p> + +<p>Her mother never quitted her during the sitting; Barozzo and the +Foscari visited the saloon occasionally; and I remained to control the +lover, and, at the same time, to improve myself by observing the +artist. The fine lineaments of Laura were too deeply engraven on the +heart of Colonna to render <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 72]</span>frequent sittings essential; and, in +compliance with my remonstrances, he abridged them as much as +possible. After the second sitting he told her that he should not +again require her presence until he had completed the portrait, when +some finishing detail might be requisite. He devoted a large portion +of the five following days to a task so soothing to his feelings; and, +on the morning of the sixth day, astonished the assembled family by +producing a highly-finished and admirable resemblance.</p> + +<p>The charming subject of his portrait was painted the size of life, and +attired in a light morning robe of green silk. The full and elegant +symmetry of her form was indicated through the graceful folds, which +fell around her like the richest sculpture. She stood in a +contemplative attitude, leaning, like some heavenly muse, upon a +golden tripod of chaste and classical design. High intelligence +adorned with its imperishable beauty her fair and lofty forehead. Her +large dark eyes, which beamed through their long fringes with soft and +melting lustre, were gazing as if into futurity, and their tender and +eloquent expression went to the soul of the observer. The finely +moulded oval of her cheek glowed with the roseate hues of life, and +the pearly lustre of the neck and arms was surpassed only by the clear +and brilliant fairness of the lovely original, while in the +beautifully curved lips, Colonna had introduced a slight compression, +indicative <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 73]</span>of that heroic firmness in the character of Laura, which +had not escaped his penetration, but did not, until a later period, +fully develop itself.</p> + +<p>The scene was a garden saloon, and through an open window an extensive +view over the lake of Garda arrested with magic power the eye of every +beholder. Sirmio appeared like a woody island in the middle distance, +and beyond the lake rose an amphitheatre of mountains, surmounted by +the distant summits of the Tyrolese Alps. There was in this admirable +portrait all the charm and witchery of life. It possessed much of the +dignity, and ease, and harmonious colouring of Titian; and the +exquisite blending and management of the tints betrayed the favourite +pupil of Paul Veronese, whom indeed he surpassed in the natural +folding and classical distribution of draperies, and fully equalled in +the force of light and shade, which makes the portraits of that able +master appear to stand out from the canvass.</p> + +<p>The next day was devoted to the finishing of some details in the +portrait of Laura; and on the succeeding morning I accompanied Colonna +to the apartment of Barozzo, who was desirous that his portrait should +be completed before his marriage. The artist fixed upon the haughty +governor that firm gaze of his dark and piercing eye, and proceeded to +pencil the outlines of his stern and massive features. After the lapse +of a few minutes, he <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 74]</span>remarked to Barozzo, that he had never seen a +countenance, the character of which he found so difficult to trace to +its primitive elements. “The lineaments of mature age,” he continued, +“are hard and inflexible, and when the eloquent play and pliancy of +youthful feelings have left the features, it is impossible, without +frequent intercourse, to detect the peculiarities and secret recesses +of character with sufficient accuracy to give force and truth to a +portrait.” He conceived that to accomplish the perfect delineation of +a man of middle age and of distinguished rank, a painter should not +only share his society, but know the history of his life, and study +the lights and shades of his character. It was thus that Raffaelle +succeeded in conveying to the portraits of Julius II., Leo X., and +their Cardinals, such intellectual dignity, such truth and grandeur of +expression. He doubted, nevertheless, whether any artist could achieve +a perfect portrait of a man of high station if he did not rise above +his employer, not only in imaginative power, but in strength of mind +and penetration into character.</p> + +<p>The riveted and searching looks, which from time to time accompanied +this singular and equivocal strain of compliment, appeared greatly to +perplex and annoy the haughty Barozzo. His tawny visage was dyed with +the dusky red of some strong inward emotion, which I was eager but +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 75]</span>unable to interpret. This suffusion was soon succeeded by an ashy +paleness, and suddenly he quitted his chair and walked to the window.</p> + +<p>During this ominous and unaccountable interruption, I gave Colonna a +warning glance. He composed his excited features into tranquillity; +and after a long pause, of which I endeavoured to disguise the +embarrassment by some comments on the Venetian school of painting, +Barozzo returned from the window and resumed his seat. Colonna seized +his pencil, and proceeded to sketch the outline of the governor’s +figure, during which process I observed in his looks nothing beyond +the earnest gaze of a portrait-painter. For some time Barozzo avoided +the encounter; but at length, as if controlled by some secret and +irresistible fascination, his eyes again met those of the young +artist. The effect of this collision was mysterious and startling. The +brilliant orbs of Colonna gradually assumed a stern and indignant +expression, and darted their searching beams upon the governor, as if +to pierce the inmost recesses of his soul. The dull grey eyes of the +again agitated Barozzo quailed and fell under this intolerable +scrutiny; his sallow visage was suffused with a ghastly yellow; again +he glanced in terror at the artist, and then half rose from his chair +in undisguised consternation. Controlling, however, with sudden effort +his agitation, he resumed his seat, and, with <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 76]</span>averted looks and +seeming indifference, inquired if Colonna had resided long in Venice. +The painter filled his brush, and answered carelessly, that he had +lived there a few months.</p> + +<p>“Your accent is Tuscan,” continued Barozzo. “Are you a native of +Florence?”</p> + +<p>“I am,” replied the painter, seemingly intent upon his employment.</p> + +<p>“Do your parents reside there?” resumed the other, with rising +emphasis.</p> + +<p>“Parents!” exclaimed Colonna, with a keen glance at the inquisitive +governor; “I have none! They are dead!”</p> + +<p>“Who and what was your father?” demanded Barozzo imperiously.</p> + +<p>This inquiry and its peremptory tone exhausted the patience of +Colonna. Dashing the paint out of his brush, he fixed a look of +startling fierceness on Barozzo, and answered, with marked and bitter +emphasis,—“He was a sword-cutler, and made excellent blades.”</p> + +<p>At this critical moment Laura entered the room with her mother to +observe the progress of Barozzo’s portrait. Casting a hasty glance at +the imperfect sketch, she remarked that it did not at all realise her +expectations. The painter replied, that he should have succeeded +better if he had enjoyed the honour of a longer acquaintance with the +governor. “It is immaterial,” exclaimed Barozzo, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 77]</span>who had fully +regained his self-possession. “We shall ere long become better known +to each other, and you may finish my portrait at Venice in the course +of the ensuing winter.”</p> + +<p>“As your excellency pleases,” replied Colonna, and removed the canvass +from the easel. The ladies now quitted the saloon with the governor; +and, soon as the door was closed, the artist defaced the ill-fated +portrait with a blow of his fist, packed up his drawing materials for +removal, and accompanied me home.</p> + +<p>Conceiving that the portentous agitation of Barozzo had grown out of +some incipient feelings of jealousy and suspicion, I remonstrated with +Colonna, during our walk, on the gratuitous imprudence of his +deportment, and pointed out the personal danger he had incurred by +thus taunting a man so powerful and irritable as the governor of +Candia. I urged him to accelerate his flight, and, meanwhile, never to +leave the villa unarmed.</p> + +<p>In reply, however, he expressed his conviction that the sudden change +of countenance and colour in Barozzo did not originate in jealousy, +and that a man so imperious and overbearing would have betrayed this +spirit-stirring passion in a manner widely different. “No, Pisani!” he +continued, in a voice quivering with emotion; “my suspicions go +farther. The springs of this man’s actions lie deep, and a prophetic +spirit tells me that he is not innocent of <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 78]</span>my noble father’s murder. +Until this morning, he deigned not to bestow more than a superficial +glance upon the features of an obscure artist in homely apparel, but +when our eyes met, in keen and unavoidable collision, the resemblance +I bear to my deceased parent flashed upon his guilty soul; and from +his sudden and uncontrollable emotion, I cannot but infer his +participation in the crimes of Cosmo. Inference, you will say, is no +proof; but it gives me a clue which I will track until I reach +conviction. It is the intention of Laura, who cannot resolve to quit +her mother, to retard for a considerable period the celebration of her +marriage, by feigned paroxysms of indisposition. I will avail myself +of this delay to bring home to Barozzo the evidence of his guilt, and +defy him to mortal combat; or, should he shrink from it, I will treat +him as a savage and noxious animal, and hunt him to death.”</p> + +<p>I could not but admit that there was some ground for the suspicions of +Colonna; but, from an apprehension of rousing his whirlwind passions +into premature activity, I concealed from him my knowledge that, +before the departure of Barozzo for Candia, he had passed some weeks +at Florence, where his congenial disposition had powerfully +recommended him to the good graces of Cosmo. They were in habits of +daily intercourse, and Barozzo was not the man who would, from +honourable feeling, decline to forward the murderous views of the +implacable ruler of Tuscany.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 79]</span></p><p>From this eventful day Colonna was an altered man. Revenge became the +ruling passion of his soul; and while he awaited with gnawing +impatience the long-expected letters from his friends in Florence and +Candia, he seemed to find no relief from the feverish rage which fired +his blood, and wasted his fine form, but in the bodily fatigue of +daily and nightly rambles in the mountains.</p> + +<p>It was the design of Laura to assume the appearance of sudden and +violent illness on the day before her intended marriage, and to +sustain the deception, by occasional relapses, for months, or even +years, should the governor’s patience endure so long. But the +probability was, that a man, advancing towards the autumn of life, and +determined to marry, would rather recede from his engagement and seek +another mate, than run the risk of such indefinite delay. The spirit +and address of Laura Foscari were fully equal to the deep game she had +determined to play. She purposed to assist the deception by staining +her fair face with an artificial and sickly hue; and she found an +effective auxiliary in her mother, who thought the brutal Barozzo +utterly unworthy to win and wear so bright a jewel as her angelic +daughter. These expedients were, however, rendered unnecessary by the +bloody catastrophes which were now at hand.</p> + +<p>Three days before the appointed celebration of the marriage, I was +reading, near midnight, in my <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 80]</span>chamber, when Colonna entered, with +vehement and hasty strides. His large eyes glittered with terrific +energy; his forehead streamed with perspiration; his dress and hair +were in wild disorder, and his hands were dyed with blood. He said not +a word, but paced the apartment for some time with rapidity. His +deportment was that of a man whose rage had risen above his control, +and overwhelmed all power of articulation. I awaited in silent and +wondering sympathy the termination of emotions so tempestuous. At +length, seating himself opposite to me, he struck the table vehemently +with his clenched hand, and after some vain attempts to speak, +exclaimed, in hoarse and hurried tones, which gave an appalling force +to his expressions—“Pisani! all doubt is at an end—I have this night +obtained conclusive evidence of Barozzo’s guilt. I have sworn to +avenge my noble father’s wrongs in the traitor’s blood—and to-morrow +he must face me in fair combat, or feel my dagger in his craven heart. +The alternative will hinge upon your friendly agency—but of that +hereafter.—About three hours since I reached the heights beyond the +lake. Exhausted with a long and toilsome ramble, I threw myself +beneath our favourite beech, and was soon lulled by the rippling +waters into brief and agitated slumber. My sleep was haunted by a +succession of fearful forms and painful incidents, which at length +assumed a shape distinctly and horribly significant. Methought <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 81]</span>I lay +upon the summit of a cliff, close to the sloping brink, and gazed into +a gulf too deep and dark for human eye to fathom. Suddenly the immense +void was illumined by sheets of vivid lightning—a monstrous peal of +thunder broke upon my ear—and a colossal form, lengthened and scaly +as a serpent, rose like the demon of the storm, approached the edge of +the precipice, and brought his horrid visage to the level of mine. +Again the lightning flashed, and I distinguished the assassin features +of Barozzo, expanded into horrible and revolting magnitude. Eyes, +lurid and menacing as meteors, glared upon me with a malignant scowl, +and huge lips, parted in a fiendish grin, disclosed an array of fangs, +pointed and glittering as poniards. He extended two gaunt and bony +hands, stained, methought, with my father’s blood, and tried to seize +and drag me into the gulf. While writhing to escape the monster’s +grasp the thunder again rolled through the abyss; the cliff beneath me +reeled from its foundations, the brink began to crumble, and my +destruction appeared inevitable—when, suddenly, the strains of sweet +and solemn music floated round me—the demon vanished, and I beheld +the pale phantom of my murdered father, extending towards me his +protecting arms. At this moment of intense excitement, the spell which +bound me was dissolved—I awoke, and saw by the brilliant moonlight a +tall figure, enveloped in a mantle, approaching me in <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 82]</span>stealthy +silence. Gazing more intently, I discovered a dagger in his grasp. In +an instant I was on my feet—the figure rushed forward, but ere he +could reach me, I stood behind the tree, and thus gained time to level +a pistol at his head. Seeing me thus prepared, the villain retreated +hastily, but escaped not the bullet, which my unerring weapon buried +in his back. He reeled and fell; and his life-blood was ebbing fast, +when I stooped to examine his features. Raising the slouched hat which +concealed his face, I immediately recognised a handsome Greek, +attached to the retinue of Barozzo. I had occasionally seen this man +in a tavern at Peschiera. His demeanour was fierce and repulsive, but +my eagerness to learn some particulars of my father’s untimely death +in Candia prompted me to cultivate his acquaintance, and I played with +him the game of Morra, forgave his losses, and paid for his wine. +Whether the remembrance of this kindness excited his compunction, or +whether he wished to atone for his past offences, I know not, but he +thus addressed me in broken accents:</p> + +<p>“‘Son of Montalto! a just retribution has overtaken me. My necessities +sold me to the savage Barozzo. <i>He</i> hired the dagger which pierced thy +noble father, and the same weapon would have destroyed thee had not +thy better fortune interposed. Listen to the counsel of a dying man. +Beware of Barozzo! He has a long grasp, and will not <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 83]</span>spare thy young +life. Fly, without delay, or thy destruction is inevitable!’</p> + +<p>“Here his voice failed him; a convulsive tremor shook his frame; he +became motionless, and apparently lifeless. But Greeks are cunning to +a proverb, and as it was of vital moment to conceal from the governor +the failure of his murderous design, I struck the assassin’s dagger +deep into his heart, and rolled him down the slope of a contiguous +ravine. I now recollected that Barozzo had twenty Greek bloodhounds +carousing in the taverns of Peschiera, and thinking it too probable +that he had commissioned more than one of them to hunt me down, I +crossed the lake, to devise with you the means to detach this demon +from his myrmidons, and force him into single combat. I have bound +myself, by all that is most sacred, to destroy him, or to perish in +the attempt; and should no fair and open avenue to vengeance offer, I +will stab him at Foscari’s table, or even rend him limb from limb at +Laura’s feet. And now, my Angelo! I conjure you by our bond of +friendship, by every generous feeling in your nature, to lend me that +aid, without which I shall be driven to the desperate and ignoble +alternative of assassination. You know well that it would be in vain +to summon the governor of Candia to a personal encounter. He is a +veteran soldier of established reputation, and he knows that he need +not fight to maintain it; nor will a man who <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 84]</span>has reached the summit +of opulence and distinction descend from his vantage-ground, and risk +the loss of so much earthly good in mortal combat with the proscribed +and desperate son of Montalto.”</p> + +<p>To this tale of visionary and real horrors, heightened and dramatised +by the indignant eloquence of Colonna, I listened with intense +interest, and my abhorrence of the monstrous cruelty of Barozzo +swelled into active sympathy and a firm resolve to second, at all +hazards, the just vengeance of this noble and deeply-injured youth. I +felt also the necessity of immediate interference to save his life. +The governor was evidently fearful of the retribution so justly due to +his unparalleled atrocity, and he had, moreover, been galled to the +quick by the taunting deportment of the young artist while sitting for +his portrait. He would soon suspect the failure of his first attempt +upon the life of Colonna, and would inevitably follow up his base +design by employing the numerous daggers in his pay. The hatred of the +young Florentine was deadly and implacable, and his determination to +sacrifice this mortal foe of his family spurned all control, and raged +like a tempest; but his impetuosity would prevent the accomplishment +of his object, and too probably betray him into the toils of his cool +and crafty enemy, who never quitted the Villa Foscari without one or +more well-armed attendants. From an affectation, too, of military +display, or probably <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 85]</span>from a consciousness that he had many personal +enemies, the governor wore at all times a corselet of scaled armour, +composed of the light, well-tempered Spanish steel, which resists the +point of sword or dagger. Had I wished to save the life of this +lawless pander to the cruelty of Cosmo, I saw no expedient which would +not expose my valued friend to imminent and deadly peril; and could I +for a moment hesitate between the chivalrous, the princely Colonna, so +unrivalled in form and feature, so elevated and pure in sentiment, so +eminently fitted, by his high intelligence, his glowing diction, and +his kindling, all-impelling energies, to rouse a better, higher, +nobler spirit, in all who came within the sphere of his +activity—could I pause an instant between this first of nature’s +nobles and the base Barozzo, who, inaccessible to pity, and fortified +against all compunction by years of crime, had, unprovoked, and with +the malice of a demon, destroyed the best and bravest of the sons of +Florence?</p> + +<p>With prompt and ardent enthusiasm, I assured him of my devotion to his +cause, and unfolded to him a stratagem, which my knowledge of the +surrounding country, and of the habits of Barozzo, had readily +suggested. During the frequent absence of Colonna, I had occasionally +joined the governor in his equestrian excursions, and, from +neighbourly feeling to the senator Foscari, had escorted his guest to +the most picturesque scenery of this <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 86]</span>romantic district. His rides +were daily, and at the same hour. I proposed to join him as usual, and +to lead him into a narrow and unfrequented defile in the mountains, +which rise from the lake about three leagues from Peschiera. Colonna +might there await and force him into personal encounter, while I would +act as umpire, and prevent any interference from the Greek escort of +the wary chieftain. At this proposal Colonna eagerly approached, and +embraced me with grateful rapture. His dark eye kindled with its +wonted fire; his pallid cheeks were flushed; the settled gloom, which +had so long clouded his fine features, vanished like mists before the +sun, and was succeeded by a radiant and exulting energy, eloquently +expressive of his conviction that the hope on which he had lived so +long—the hope of just revenge—would now be realised.</p> + +<p>I urged him to seek, in immediate repose, the restoration of his +exhausted strength, and undertook to provide him with a managed horse, +armour, and weapons, which should place him upon a level with his +mailed and well-mounted antagonist. Horse and armour, however, he +promptly declined. He would find an expedient, he said, to compel +Barozzo to fight him foot to foot, and he pledged himself to find a +way with a good weapon through the scaly corselet of his serpent foe. +He requested only a straight two-edged sword, of well-tried temper; +and a woodman’s axe, the purpose of which he did <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 87]</span>not explain. He then +left me, to plunge into the lake, and to find in its pure and bracing +waters that refreshment which, he said, it would be a vain attempt to +obtain in sleep, while I proceeded to my father’s armoury, and +selected from the numerous weapons which adorned it, a long and +powerful two-edged blade, which he had brought from the Levant. This +sword was black from hilt to point, and destitute of ornament, except +some golden hieroglyphics near the guard; but I knew that it had stood +the brunt of several stirring campaigns, without material injury to +its admirable edge and temper.</p> + +<p>After a short and unrefreshing slumber, I arose with the sun, and +hastened, with the sword and woodman’s axe, to the saloon of Colonna. +His garb was usually plain, almost to homeliness, and chosen probably +with a view to the better concealment of his rank; but for this day of +vengeance he had donned the princely costume of the Tuscan nobles. A +rich vest of embroidered scarlet, and pantaloons of woven silk, were +closely fitted to his noble person, which, I have said before, was +fashioned in the choicest mould of manly beauty, and now, so worthily +adorned, displayed in all its high perfection that faultless union of +symmetry and strength, so rarely seen in life; equalling, indeed, the +Vatican Antinous in classic elegance of form, but far surpassing that +fine statue in stature and heroic character of look and bearing. A +mantle of the richest <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 88]</span>velvet hung from his well-formed shoulders, +while a nodding plume adorned his Spanish hat and shaded his dark +eyes, which lighted up as they beheld me with bright and eager flashes +of impatience.</p> + +<p>“Thou art indeed the ‘pearl and pride of Florence,’ my Colonna!” I +exclaimed, in irrepressible admiration, applying, as I approached him, +the poetical simile of his Laura.</p> + +<p>Regardless of the compliment, he grasped the unpretending weapon I +held out to him, and plucked it from the scabbard. Tracing at a glance +its Oriental pedigree, he doubled the strong blade with ease, until +the point touched and rebounded from the guard, and then severed with +its unyielding edge an iron nail projecting from the wall. “This plain +old weapon,” said he, with an exulting smile, “is worth a dukedom. +’Twill pierce a panoply of Milan steel, and I pledge myself to make it +search the vitals of this ruffian governor. But these are words, +Pisani; and words, the Roman proverb says, are feminine, while deeds +alone are masculine. Farewell, then, till we meet in the defile. It is +essential to my purpose that I reach the ground some hours before +Barozzo.”</p> + +<p>He then embraced me cordially, concealed the axe beneath his mantle, +and departed for the mountains, intending to cross the lake to a point +not distant from the scene of action. At an early hour I mounted my +horse, and rode towards the Villa <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 89]</span>Foscari. In the vicinity of +Peschiera I descried the governor proceeding on his daily morning +excursion to the mountains. I had hitherto rarely seen him with more +than one attendant, but he was now closely followed by two +well-mounted Greeks of lofty stature, attired in the gorgeous costume +of the Levant, and armed with scimitar and dagger. The square and +athletic person of their chief was arrayed in the splendid garb of a +military commander of distinguished rank. His ample chest was covered +with a corselet of light scale-armour, which yielded to every motion +of his frame, and was partially concealed by a broad sash, and a +capacious velvet mantle. A sword of unusual length hung from his belt, +whence also projected the handle of a poniard, which blazed with +jewels of great lustre and value. At the age of forty-two, Barozzo was +still in the full vigour of manhood; and the martial ease and energy +of his movements indicated that he would find full occupation for the +quick eye and unrivalled skill of the comparatively unarmed Colonna.</p> + +<p>The governor saluted me as usual, and after some remarks upon the +beauty of the surrounding scenery, he carelessly inquired where my +friend the painter was. I replied, that he was gone up the lake in his +bark, and described him as an itinerant personage, who delighted in +ranging over the Brescian mountains, where he passed a considerable +portion <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 90]</span>of his time in sketching, and was but an occasional inmate of +my father’s villa. The governor made no comment, and resumed his +observations on the wild mountain scenery to which we were +approaching. I inquired if he had yet discovered in his rides a defile +of singular and romantic beauty, the avenue to which, from the +main-road, was concealed by a grove of beech. He replied in the +negative, and assented to my proposal that we should explore it. A +ride of two hours brought us to the secluded entrance of this +picturesque ravine, and we descended into its deep and silent +recesses. The road was stony, rugged, and unfrequented; and, except at +intervals, admitted only two horsemen abreast. The mountains on each +side rose with bold abruptness, and their mossy surfaces were dotted +with perennial oaks and lofty beeches, which threw their arched and +interwoven branches across the chasm, and intercepted agreeably the +glare and heat of the morning sun. We had proceeded about a league +along this still and dusky hollow, when we distinguished the sound of +a woodman’s axe, and the sharp report of its echo from the opposite +cliffs. We soon reached the spot above which the labourer was +employed; but the profusion of foliage and underwood entirely screened +the person of the woodman, whose axe continued to descend with +unabated energy. We had advanced about a hundred paces beyond this +point, when our course was <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 91]</span>arrested by a groaning and mighty crash, +succeeded by a stunning shock, which shook the ravine like an +earthquake, and was re-echoed in deep, long mutterings by the adjacent +rocks. Tranquillising our startled coursers, we looked around and +beheld a colossal beech, lying in the narrow pathway, which it filled +up like a rampart. The Greeks, who had loitered to discern, if +possible, the person of the vigorous woodman, were intercepted by the +fallen giant of the mountain, but had escaped injury, as we could +perceive them in their saddles through the foliage.</p> + +<p>Startled by the ominous appearance of this incident, the governor +immediately rode back, and bade his attendants dismount and lead their +horses over a sheep-path which rose on the mountain slope, above the +level of the fallen tree, while he would ride on slowly until they +rejoined him. Execrating the peasant who had thus annoyed him, he +turned his courser’s head, and we proceeded at a slow pace to the now +contiguous spot which I had described to Colonna as best suited to his +purpose. Here the base of an enormous cliff projected like a rampart +into the defile, and sloped abruptly into two right angles, connected +by a level line of nearly perpendicular rock, which rose in +castellated grandeur to a towering height. The numerous crevices and +hollows were fringed with dazzling heath-flowers and luxuriant +creepers, between which the <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 92]</span>bare black surface of the rock frowned on +the passing gazer like the ruined stronghold of some mountain robber. +We now turned the first angle of the cliff, looking upward as we rode +at the majestic front of this singular work of nature. Still gazing, +we had proceeded about fifty paces, and the governor was remarking, +that the level and lofty summit would make a commanding military +station, when suddenly our coursers halted, and looking down we saw +before us the tall and kingly figure of Colonna, standing like an +apparition in the pathway. His right hand rested on his unsheathed +sword, and his attitude was that of careless and assured composure; +but in his gathered brow, and in the boding glitter of his eye, I +could discern the deadly purpose of the forest lion, about to spring +upon his prey, and fully confident in his own powers and resources. At +this sudden encounter of Montalto’s son, who seemed to start with +spectral abruptness from the ground beneath us, Barozzo shook in his +saddle as if he had seen an accusing spirit. For a moment the blood +left his face, his breath shortened, and his chest heaved with strong +internal emotion, but his iron features soon regained their wonted +character of intrepidity. He then darted upon me a keen look of +inquiry and suspicion; before, however, he had time to speak, Colonna +was upon him. Rapidly advancing, he seized the bridle of his horse, +and thus addressed him:—“Barozzo! <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 93]</span>the measure of thy crimes is full, +and retribution is at hand! Colonna the painter is no more, but the +son of Montalto has escaped thy dagger, and demands atonement for his +father’s blood. Dismount, assassin! and defend thy worthless life!”</p> + +<p>The deep and startling grandeur of Colonna’s voice, and the implacable +hostility which flashed from his fierce eyeballs, shook the firm +sinews of the guilty governor, and again his swarthy lineaments were +blanched with terror. By a sudden and powerful effort, however, he +regained self-mastery, and gathering into his grim features all the +pride and insolence of his soul, he darted upon his youthful enemy a +sneer of contempt. “Presuming vagrant!” he shouted, in accents hoarse +with wrath, “dare to impede my progress, and my retinue, which is at +hand, shall scatter thy limbs on the highway!”</p> + +<p>Still firmly grasping the bridle, Colonna eyed him for a moment with +quiet scorn, and then he smiled—briefly indeed, but with a stinging +mockery, a hot and withering scorn of eye and lip, that seared the +haughty chieftain to the brain. Writhing with sudden frenzy, he +spurred his mettled charger, and endeavoured to ride down his +opponent; but the generous animal, true to the instincts of a nature +nobler than his master’s, refused to advance, and plunged and +demi-volted <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 94]</span>with a violence which would have unseated a less +experienced rider. At this moment, the heavy trampling of approaching +horses rolled in doubling echoes through the ravine. Encouraged by the +welcome sound, Barozzo attempted to draw his sword, but before the +plunging of his horse would allow him to reach the hilt, the vigilant +Colonna smote him on the cheek with his sheathed weapon. Then +relinquishing the bridle, and stepping lightly sideways, he struck the +horse’s flank, and the startled animal, straining every sinew, bounded +away like a ball, and quickly disappeared round the second angle of +the cliff, followed by the loud laugh of the exulting Colonna, whose +fierce ha! ha! re-echoed through the rocky hollow like a trumpet-call. +Meanwhile the Greeks, who had turned the first angle in time to behold +the termination of the struggle, drew their sabres, and pushing their +horses into a gallop, rushed down upon us like infuriated tigers. +Anticipating their attack, I was not unprepared to aid my gallant +friend in this emergency; but all assistance was superfluous to one so +fertile in resources. He turned with graceful promptitude upon the +savage Cretans, and before their powerful steeds could measure the +short intervening distance, his sword was firmly set between his +teeth, and two pistols appeared with magical abruptness in his grasp. +Levelled by an eye which never failed, these <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 95]</span>weapons lodged a bullet +in the breast of each approaching Greek. The colossal riders reeled in +their saddles; their sabres quivered in their weakened grasp, and +reclining for support upon the necks of their startled horses, they +successively passed us, and turned the angle beyond which their chief +had disappeared. Colonna now threw down his pistols, and exclaimed +exultingly, “Now is the crowning hour, my Angelo! follow me, and you +shall find the scaly monster of my dream caught in a trap from which +no human power can free him.”</p> + +<p>I rode by his side in wondering anticipation, and when we had passed +the angle, I beheld a scene which still remains engraven on my memory. +The defile here expanded into an irregular oval, the extremity of +which was blocked up by a dense and impervious mass of young beech and +poplar, rising above thrice the height of a tall man, and levelled +that morning by the ponderous axe of the indefatigable Colonna. The +courser of Barozzo had plunged deep into the leafy labyrinth, and the +unhorsed governor, entangled by his velvet drapery, was endeavouring +to extricate himself from the forked and intersecting branches, while +the horses of the Greeks stood panting in the shade, near the bleeding +bodies of their fallen masters, and the noble brutes snorted with +horror, and shook in every joint, as with lowered necks and flaming +eyes, they snuffed the blood of the expiring wretches.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 96]</span></p><p>As we approached the governor, he succeeded in releasing himself by +cutting his rich mantle into shreds with his dagger. Stepping out of +his leafy toils, he stood before us like a wild beast caught in a +hunter’s trap, foaming, furious, and breathless, but evidently +dismayed by the sudden and irremediable loss of his armed followers. +Divested of the drapery which had served the double purpose of +concealment and display, we observed that he was accoutred in back and +breast proof armour, of the light steel scales I have before +described. He looked the very serpent of Colonna’s dream, and the +malignant scowl of his small and snaky eyes gave singular force to the +resemblance. His generous enemy allowed him time to recover from the +fatigue of disentangling himself, and then approached him. “Barozzo!” +said he, “last night I shot thy cowardly assassin. In dying penitence +he called himself <i>thy</i> agent in the murder of my noble parent, and +bade me shun the daggers of thy savage Cretans. But Montalto’s son +would risk a thousand lives to gain his just revenge, and again he +warns thee to defend thy life. Pisani shall be umpire of the combat, +and his time-honoured name is pledge enough that no foul play is meant +thee.”</p> + +<p>The governor, who had now recovered breath and self-possession, folded +his arms, and met the stern defiance of his youthful foe with a look +of contemptuous indifference. Not deigning a reply, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 97]</span>he addressed +himself to me in tones of angry expostulation, and expressed his +indignant surprise that a son of the Senator Pisani should thus lend +himself to the designs of a young vagrant, who was destined to grace +the benches of a galley. My reply was anticipated by the fiery +Colonna, whose sword flashed with lightning quickness from the +scabbard, while his haughty lip curled up with unutterable scorn.</p> + +<p>“Remorseless villain!” he shouted, in a voice of appalling wrath, “I +know a venom yet shall sting thy recreant spirit into action. Know, +Ercole Barozzo! that Foscari’s daughter was wooed and won by +<i>me</i>—plighted her troth to <i>me</i>—long ere she saw thy truculent and +yellow visage. Nay, more, she would ere this have fled with me from +Lombardy, had not higher duties staid our mutual purpose.”</p> + +<p>The governor, although a renowned and fearless soldier in earlier +life, had betrayed a terror on the first view of Colonna, and a +reluctance to engage with him in single-handed conflict, which I had +referred to the depressing action of a diseased conscience, or to the +increased love of life generated by his prosperous condition; but a +taunt like this was beyond all human endurance; it stung him to the +very soul, and roused his lazy valour into life and fury. His sinews +stiffened with rage, and his widely-opened eyes glared upon Colonna +like those of a tigress at bay, while his teeth remained firmly +clenched, and inaudible maledictions quivered on <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 98]</span>his working lips. +Tearing his formidable sword from its sheath, he rushed like one +delirious upon his adversary, and their blades met with a clash which +told the deadly rancour of the combatants.</p> + +<p>I now witnessed a conflict unparalleled for intense and eager +thirst of blood. It was truly the death-grapple of the lion and +the serpent. The noble and generous Colonna, pursuing his just +revenge, and trusting, like the kingly animal, to native strength +and courage, sought no unfair advantage; while the crafty Barozzo, +huge in body, tortuous in mind, and scaled with impenetrable steel, +well personified the reptile of Colonna’s vision. Although a +practised and wary swordsman, he did not wield his weapon like +Colonna, who, with equal skill in stratagem and feint, was unrivalled +in that lightning-quickness and ready sympathy of eye and hand, for +which the Italians are pre-eminent amongst the swordsmen of Europe; +but the courage and self-possession of the governor had been exercised +in frequent conflicts with the Moslem; his sinews were strung with +martial toil and daily exercise; and his well-mailed person presented +so little vulnerable surface as greatly to protract and facilitate his +defence. He soon learned, however, to respect the formidable skill and +untiring arm of his young opponent, whose weapon played with a motion +so rapid and incessant, that he seemed to parry and thrust at the same +instant; and had not the large and powerful hand of Barozzo retained a +firm grasp <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 99]</span>of his hilt, he would have been disarmed at the first +onset. After a few passes, Colonna’s point struck the centre of the +governor’s corselet with a force which made the scales sink deep +beneath the pressure, but the tempered steel resisted this and many +other well-directed hits. The conflict proceeded with unabated +fierceness, and for a period which would have utterly exhausted men of +ordinary lungs and sinews, when Barozzo, finding all his lunges +ineffective, and fearing premature exhaustion, endeavoured to sustain +and collect his powers by remaining on the defensive; but it was now +too late. His sword was irrecoverably entangled in the whirlwind +involutions of Colonna’s weapon—his hold began to relax—and he saw +the moment rapidly approaching when he should be disarmed, and at the +mercy of an unappeasable foe.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> Despairing of success, thirsting for +revenge, and regardless of the laws of fair and open combat, he +suddenly drew his long dagger, dropped on one knee, and made a thrust +which would have proved fatal to a <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 100]</span>less vigilant adversary. But +Colonna had anticipated the possibility of this base attempt from one +so destitute of all chivalrous feeling, and his quick eye observed and +met the movement. Stepping lightly back, he whirled his keen-edged +blade with a force which cut deep into Barozzo’s wrist. The dagger +dropped from his palsied grasp, and, at the same instant, his sword +flew above his head. Colonna, having disarmed his treacherous enemy +while still kneeling, disdained to follow up his advantage, and coolly +said to him, “That trick was worthy of you, governor! but your +murderous game is nearly up. Resume your sword, and clutch the guard +more firmly, or in three passes more you will be food for vultures!”</p> + +<p>Barozzo, who had started from the ground, and now stood foaming at the +mouth like a chafed panther, said nothing in reply, but seized his +sword, and rushed upon his generous adversary with desperate but +unavailing ferocity. I could now perceive that Colonna pressed him +more hotly than before, and that his point no longer sought the +corselet, but the throat of Barozzo, where indeed alone he was +mortally vulnerable, and where, ere long, the death-stroke reached +him. A few passes had been exchanged without a hit, when suddenly +Barozzo’s sword again flew from his grasp, and long before it reached +the ground, Colonna’s point was buried in his throat. The thrust was +mortal. The steel had severed the duct of life; the hot blood <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 101]</span>bubbled +out in streams; and the huge Barozzo staggered, reeled, and fell upon +his back. A bloody froth now gathered round his lips, which worked +with agony and rage; the life-blood ebbed apace, and soon the trunk +and limbs of the colossal chieftain were stiffened in death. But even +in death the dominant passions of his soul were strongly written in +his livid features. His glazed and sunken eyes still glared with +fiend-like malice on his conqueror, and every lineament was inwrought +with reckless and insatiable ferocity.</p> + +<p>Colonna gazed a while in solemn and impressive silence upon the foe he +had destroyed. His broad forehead darkened with deep thought, and his +eyes saddened with painful recollections of the beloved parent whose +untimely death he had so well avenged. Soon, however, his noble +features brightened with a fervent look of blended filial piety and +exultation. He wiped his reeking blade upon the remnants of Barozzo’s +mantle, and we retraced our steps. Colonna ascended a sheep-path, and +crossed the mountain to regain his boat, while I returned by a +circuitous road to the villa, leaving the governor of Candia and his +retinue to the vultures of the Apennine, which, with unerring ken, had +espied the dead Greeks, and were already sailing in wide eddies high +above the scene of blood.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p>Here my friend, who had with difficulty pursued his way through the +mouldy pages of the decayed <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 102]</span>manuscript, was compelled to make a final +pause. The long action of time and damp had nearly obliterated the +remainder of the narrative, and glimpses only of romantic perils by +sea and land were occasionally discernible. We were obliged to suspend +all farther gratification of our curiosity until our return to Venice, +where we hoped by a chemical process to succeed in restoring to a more +legible tint the pale characters of this interesting manuscript.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="NAPOLEON" id="NAPOLEON"></a>NAPOLEON.</h2> + +<h3>BY J. G. LOCKHART.</h3> + +<h4>[<i>MAGA.</i> <span class="smcap">July 1821.</span>]</h4> + +<div class="centerbox3 bbox"><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he mighty sun had just gone down<br /> +Into the chambers of the deep;<br /> +The ocean birds had upward flown,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Each in his cave to sleep.</span></p> + +<p>And silent was the island shore,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">And breathless all the broad red sea,</span><br /> +And motionless beside the door<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Our solitary tree.</span></p> + +<p>Our only tree, our ancient palm,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Whose shadow sleeps our door beside.</span><br /> +Partook the universal calm,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">When Buonaparte died.</span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 103]</span>An ancient man, a stately man,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Came forth beneath the spreading tree,</span><br /> +His silent thoughts I could not scan,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">His tears I needs must see.</span></p> + +<p>A trembling hand had partly cover’d<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">The old man’s weeping countenance,</span><br /> +Yet something o’er his sorrow hover’d<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">That spake of War and France;</span></p> + +<p>Something that spake of other days,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">When trumpets pierced the kindling air,</span><br /> +And the keen eye could firmly gaze<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Through battle’s crimson glare.</span></p> + +<p>Said I, Perchance this faded hand,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">When Life beat high, and Hope was young,</span><br /> +By Lodi’s wave—on Syria’s sand—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">The bolt of death hath flung.</span><br /> +<br /> +Young Buonaparte’s battle-cry<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Perchance hath kindled this old cheek;</span><br /> +It is no shame that he should sigh,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">His heart is like to break.</span></p> + +<p>He hath been with him, young and old;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">He climb’d with him the Alpine snow;</span><br /> +He heard the cannon when they roll’d<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Along the silver Po.</span></p> + +<p>His soul was as a sword, to leap<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">At his accustom’d leader’s word;</span><br /> +I love to see the old man weep,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">He knew no other lord.</span></p> + +<p>As if it were but yesternight,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">This man remembers dark Eylau,—</span><br /> +His dreams are of the Eagle’s flight,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Victorious long ago.</span></p> + +<p>The memories of worser time<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Are all as shadows unto him;</span><br /> +Fresh stands the picture of his prime,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">The later trace is dim.</span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 104]</span>I enter’d, and I saw him lie<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Within the chamber, all alone,</span><br /> +I drew near very solemnly<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">To dead Napoleon.</span></p> + +<p>He was not shrouded in a shroud,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">He lay not like the vulgar dead,</span><br /> +Yet all of haughty, stern, and proud<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">From his pale brow was fled.</span></p> + +<p>He had put harness on to die,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">The eagle-star shone on his breast,</span><br /> +His sword lay bare his pillow nigh,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">The sword he liked the best.</span></p> + +<p>But calm—most calm was all his face,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">A solemn smile was on his lips,</span><br /> +His eyes were closed in pensive grace—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">A most serene eclipse!</span></p> + +<p>You would have said some sainted sprite<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Had left its passionless abode,—</span><br /> +Some man, whose prayer at morn and night<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Had duly risen to God.</span></p> + +<p>What thoughts had calm’d his dying breast<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">(For calm he died) cannot be known;</span><br /> +Nor would I wound a warrior’s rest—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Farewell, Napoleon!</span></p> + +<p>No sculptured pile our hands shall rear;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Thy simple sod the stream shall lave.</span><br /> +The native Holly’s leaf severe<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Shall grace and guard thy grave.</span></p> + +<p>The Eagle stooping from the sky<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">Shall fold his wing and rest him here,</span><br /> +And sunwards gaze with glowing eye<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.35em;">From Buonaparte’s bier.</span></p></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 1]</span></p> +<h2><a name="A_LEGEND_OF_GIBRALTAR" id="A_LEGEND_OF_GIBRALTAR"></a>A LEGEND OF GIBRALTAR.</h2> + +<h3>BY COLONEL E. B. HAMLEY.</h3> + +<h4>[<i>MAGA.</i> <span class="smcap">November 1851.</span>]</h4> + +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he Governor’s residence at Gibraltar was, in days of Spanish +domination, a religious house, and still retains the name of the +Convent. Two sides of a long quadrangular gallery, traversing the +interior of the building, are hung with portraits of officers present +at the great siege in 1779-83, executed in a style which proves that +Pre-Raphaelite painters existed in those days. One of these portraits +represents my grandfather. To judge from a painting of him by Sir +Joshua, and a small miniature likeness, both still in possession of +the family, he must have been rather a good-looking old gentleman, +with an affable, soldier-like air, and very respectable features. The +portrait at the Convent is doubtless a strong likeness, but by no +means so flattering; it represents him much as he might have appeared +in life, if looked at through a cheap opera-glass. <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 2]</span>A full inch has +been abstracted from his forehead and added to his chin; the bold nose +has become a great promontory in the midst of the level countenance; +the eyes have gained in ferocity what they have lost in speculation, +and would, indeed, go far to convey a disagreeable impression of my +ancestor’s character, but for the inflexible smile of the mouth. +Altogether, the grimness of the air, the buckram rigidity of figure, +and the uncompromising hardness of his shirt-frill and the curls of +his wig, are such as are to be met with in few works of art, besides +the figure-heads of vessels and the sign-boards of country inns.</p> + +<p>However, my grandfather is no worse off than his compeers. Not far +from this one is another larger painting, representing a council of +officers held during the siege, where, notwithstanding the gravity of +the occasion and the imminence of the danger, not a single face in the +intrepid assembly wears the slightest expression of anxiety or fear, +or, indeed, of anything else; and though my progenitor, in addition to +the graces of the other portrait, is here depicted with a squint, yet +he is by no means the most ill-looking individual present. But the +illustrious governor, Eliott, has suffered more than anybody at the +hands of the artist. Besides figuring in the production aforesaid, a +statue of him stands in the Alameda, carved in some sort of wood, +unluckily for him, of a durable <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 3]</span>nature. The features are of a very +elevated cast, especially the nose; the little legs seem by no means +equal to the task of sustaining the enormous cocked-hat; and the +bearing is so excessively military, that it has been found necessary +to prop the great commander from behind to prevent him from falling +backwards.</p> + +<p>My grandfather, John Flinders, joined the garrison of Gibraltar as a +major of infantry a few years before the siege. He was then +forty-seven years of age, and up to that time had remained one of the +most determined old bachelors that ever existed. Not that he ever +declaimed against matrimony in the style of some of our young moderns, +who fancy themselves too strong-minded to marry; the truth being that +they remain single, either because they have not been gifted by nature +with tastes sufficiently strong to like one woman better than another, +or else, because no woman ever took the trouble to lay siege to them. +My grandfather had never married, simply, I believe, because matrimony +had never entered his head. He seldom ventured, of his own choice, +into ladies’ society, but, when he did, no man was more emphatically +gallant to the sex. One after one, he saw his old friends abandoning +the irresponsible ease of bachelorhood for the cares of wedded life; +but while he duly congratulated them on their felicity, and officiated +as godfather to their progeny, he <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 4]</span>never seemed to anticipate a +similar destiny for himself. All his habits showed that he had been +too long accustomed to single harness to go cleverly as one of a pair. +He had particular hours of rising and going to bed; of riding out and +returning; of settling himself down for the evening to a book and +pipe, which the presence of a helpmate would have materially deranged. +And therefore, without holding any Malthusian tenets, without pitying +his Benedick acquaintances, or entertaining a thought of the sex which +would have been in the least degree derogatory to the character of a +De Coverley, his castles in the air were never tenanted by any of his +own posterity.</p> + +<p>It was fortunate for my grandfather that in his time people did not +suffer so much as now from that chronic inflammation of the +conscience, which renders them perfectly miserable unless they are +engaged in some tangible pursuit—“improving their minds,” or “adding +to the general stock of information.” A more useless, contented person +never existed. He never made even a show of employing himself +profitably, and never complained of weariness in maintaining the +monotonous jog-trot of his simple daily life. He read a good deal, +certainly, but it was not to improve his mind, only to amuse himself. +Strong-minded books, to stimulate his thinking faculties, would have +had no charms for him; he would as soon have thought <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 5]</span>of getting +galvanised for the pleasure of looking at his muscles. And I don’t +know whether it was not just as well. In systematically cultivating +his mind, he would merely have been laying a top-dressing on a thin +soil—manuring where there would never have been a crop—and some +pleasant old weeds would have been pulled up in the process. A green +thistly common, even though a goose could hardly find sustenance +there, is nature still, which can hardly be said of a patch of earth +covered with guano.</p> + +<p>So my grandfather went on enjoying himself without remorse after his +own fashion, and never troubled himself to think—an operation that +would have been inconvenient to himself, and productive of no great +results to the world. He transplanted his English habits to Gibraltar; +and, after being two years there, knew nothing more of Spain or +Spaniards than the view of the Andaluçian hills from the Rock, and a +short constitutional daily ride along the beach beyond the Spanish +lines, to promote appetite and digestion, afforded him. And so he +might have continued to vegetate during the remainder of his service +there, but for a new acquaintance that he made about this time.</p> + +<p>Frank Owen, commonly called Garry Owen by his familiars, was one of +those joyous spirits whose pleasant faces and engaging manners serve +as a perpetual act of indemnity for all breaches of decorum, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 6]</span>and +trespasses over social and conventional fences, committed by them in +the gaiety of their hearts. In reproving his many derelictions of +military duty, the grim colonel of the regiment would insensibly +exchange his habitual tone of severe displeasure for one of mild +remonstrance—influenced, probably, quite as much, in secret, by the +popularity of the unrepentant offender, as by any personal regard for +him. Captain Hedgehog, who had shot a man through the heart for +corking his face one night when he was drunk, and all contact with +whose detonating points of honour was as carefully avoided by his +acquaintance as if they had been the wires of a spring-gun, sustained +Garry’s reckless personalities with a sort of warning growl utterly +thrown away upon the imperturbable wag, who would still persist, in +the innocence of his heart, in playing round the den of this military +cockatrice. And three months after his arrival in Gibraltar, being one +day detected by a fierce old Spanish lady in the very act of kissing +her daughter behind the little señorita’s great painted fan, his +good-humoured impudence converted the impending storm into a mild +drizzle of reproof, ending in his complete restoration to favour.</p> + +<p>This youth had brought with him from England a letter from his mother, +a widow lady, an old friend of my grandfather, who had some thirty +years before held with her a juvenile flirtation. It recommended <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 7]</span>to +his protection her son Frank, about to join the regiment as an ensign, +pathetically enlarging on the various excellencies, domestic and +religious, which shone forth conspicuously in the youth’s character, +and of the comfort of contemplating and superintending which she was +about to be deprived. In fact, it had led my grandfather to expect a +youth of extreme docility and modesty, requiring a protector rather to +embolden than to restrain him. After in vain attempting to espy in his +young acquaintance any of the characteristics ascribed to him in his +mother’s letter, the Major, naturally good-natured and accessible to +his youthful comrades, very soon suffered himself to be influenced by +the good-humour, vigorous vitality, and careless cleverness of the +Ensign, to an extent that caused him sometimes to wonder secretly at +his own transformation. His retired habits were broken in upon, one +after the other, till he had scarcely a secluded hour in his sixteen +waking ones to enjoy alone his book and his pipe. His peaceful +quarters, silent in general as a monk’s cell, would now be invaded at +all sorts of hours by the jovial Garry, followed by the admiring +satellites who usually revolved around him; and the Major, with a +sound between a groan and a chuckle, would close his well-beloved +volume to listen to the facetious details of, and sometimes to +participate in, the uncongenial freaks of the humorous subaltern. Once +he had actually consented, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 8]</span>at about the hour he usually went to bed, +to accompany the youth to a Carnival ball—one of a series of +entertainments at which the Catholic youth of the city are wont to +indemnify themselves for the mortifications of Lent, and where masks, +dominoes, and fancy dresses lend their aid to defeat the vigilance of +the lynx-eyed duennas and mammas who look anxiously on, perfectly +aware, in general, that their own watchfulness is more to be relied on +for nipping in the bud an indiscreet amour, than any innate iciness of +temperament or austere propriety in the objects of their care. Not +only did the Major mingle in the scene, but he actually, about +midnight, found himself figuring in a cotillon with a well-developed +señorita of thirteen years, whose glances and deportment showed a +precocious proficiency in the arts of flirtation. At this ball Garry +had become enamoured beyond all former passions (and they were +numerous and inconstant, in general, as if he had been a Grand Turk) +of one of his partners, a young Spanish lady. Her graceful figure and +motions in the dance had at first captivated him—and when, after +dancing with her himself, his eloquent entreaties, delivered in +indifferent Spanish, had prevailed on her to lift her mask for one coy +moment, the vision of eyes and eyebrows (the common beauties of a +Spanish countenance), and the clear rosy complexion, a much more rare +perfection, then revealed, had accomplished the utter <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 9]</span>subjugation of +his errant fancy. She had vanished from the ball silently and +irremediably, as a houri of Paradise from the awakening eyes of an +opium-eating Pasha; and all his attempts to trace her, continued +unceasingly for a couple of months afterwards, had proved in vain.</p> + +<p>One morning my grandfather was seated at breakfast in the verandah of +his quarters, situated high up the rock above the town. Below him lay +the roofs, terraced and balconied, and populous with cats, for whose +convenience the little flat stone squares at the top of most of the +houses appeared to have been devised. Tall towers, called mirandas, +shot up at intervals, from whose summits the half-baked inhabitants, +pent within close walls and streets, might catch refreshing glimpses +of the blue sea and the hills of Spain—conveniences destined soon +afterwards to be ruined by the enemy’s fire, or pulled down to avoid +attracting it, and never rebuilt. Beyond the white sunny ridge of the +line wall came the sharp edge of the bay, rising in high perspective +to the purple coast of Spain opposite, which was sprinkled with +buildings white as the sails that dotted the water. My grandfather was +in a state of great sensual enjoyment, sniffing up the odour of the +large geranium-bushes that grew in clumps in the little garden in +front, and the roses that twined thickly round the trellis of the +vine-roofed verandah; sipping thick creamy Spanish <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 10]</span>chocolate between +the mouthfuls of red mullet, broiled in white paper, the flavour of +which he was diligently comparing with that of some specimens of the +same fish which he remembered to have eaten in his youth in +Devonshire; and glancing sideways over the cup at an open volume of +Shakespeare, leaned slopingly on the edge of a plate of black figs +bursting with ripeness, like trunk-hose slashed with crimson. The +Major was none of your skimming readers, who glance through a work of +art as if it were a newspaper—measure, weigh it, and deliver a +critical opinion on it, before the more reverential student has +extricated himself from the toils of the first act or opening chapter: +not he; he read every word, and affixed a meaning, right or wrong, to +all the hard, obsolete ones. The dramatic fitness of the characters +was not to be questioned by him, any more than that of the authentic +personages of history. He would reason on their acts and proceedings +as on those of his own intimate acquaintances. He never could account +for Hamlet’s madness otherwise than by supposing the Prince must have, +some time or other, got an ugly rap on the head—let fall, perhaps, +when a baby, by a gin-drinking nurse—producing, as in some persons he +had himself from time to time been acquainted with, a temporary +aberration of the wits; a piece of original criticism that has not +occurred to any of the other commentators on this much-discussed +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 11]</span>point. Of Iago he has recorded an opinion in an old note-book still +extant, where his observations appear in indifferent orthography, and +ink yellow with age, that he was a cursed scoundrel—an opinion +delivered with all the emphasis of an original detector of crime, +anxious that full though tardy justice should be done to the +delinquent’s memory. But his great favourite was Falstaff: “A +wonderful clever fellow, sir,” he would say, “and no more a coward +than you or I, sir.”</p> + +<p>My grandfather proceeded slowly with his meal, holding the cup to his +lips with one hand and turning a leaf with the other—an operation +which he was delaying till a great mosquito-hawk (a beautiful brown +moth mottled like a pheasant), that had settled on the page, should +think proper to take flight. He had lately come from a parade, as was +evidenced by his regimental leather breeches and laced red waistcoat; +but a chintz dressing-gown and a pair of yellow Moorish slippers +softened down the warlike tone of these garments to one more congenial +with his peaceable and festive pursuits. Presently the garden door +opened, and a well-known step ascended to the verandah. Frank Owen, +dressed in a cool Spanish costume, advanced, and, stopping three paces +from the Major, took off his tufted sombrero and made a low bow.</p> + +<p>“You are the picture, my dear sir,” he said, “of serene enjoyment +slightly tinged with sensuality. <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 12]</span>But how long, may I ask, have you +taken to breakfasting on spiders?”—pointing, as he took a chair +opposite the Major, at an immense red-spotted one that had dropt from +the ceiling on the morsel my grandfather was in the act of conveying +to his mouth.</p> + +<p>The Major tenderly removed the insect by a leg.</p> + +<p>“’Tis the worst of these al-fresco meals, Frank,” said he. “Yesterday +I cut a green lizard in two that had got on my plate, mistaking him +for a bit of salad—being, as usual, more intent on my book than my +food—and had very near swallowed the tail-half of the unfortunate +animal.”</p> + +<p>“There are worse things than lizards in the world,” quoth Garry. +“Ants, I should say, were certainly less wholesome”—and he directed +the Major’s attention to a long black line of those interesting +creatures issuing from a hole in the pavement, passing in an unbroken +series up my ancestor’s left leg, the foot of which rested on the +ground, then traversing the cloth, and terminating at the loaf, the +object of their expedition.</p> + +<p>“Bless me,” said the Major, as he rose and shook his breeches gently +free from the marauders, “I must be more careful, or I shall chance to +do myself a mischief. But they’re worse at night. I’ve been obliged to +leave off reading here in the evenings, for it went to my heart to see +the moths scorching their pretty gauzy wings in the candle till the +wicks were half-choked with them.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 13]</span></p><p>“Do you know, Major,” said Owen, gravely, “that either this insect +diet, or the sedentary life you lead, is making you quite fat, and +utterly destroying the symmetry of your figure? In another week there +will be one unbroken line of rotundity from your chin to your knees.”</p> + +<p>My grandfather glanced downward at his waistcoat. “No, my boy, no,” +said he; “if there had been any difference, I should have known it by +my clothes. I don’t think I’ve gained a pound this twelvemonth.”</p> + +<p>“More than a stone,” quoth Garry. “We all remarked it on parade +to-day—and remarked it with sorrow. Now, look you, a sea voyage is +the very thing to restore your true proportions, and I propose that we +shall take a short one together.”</p> + +<p>“A sea voyage!” quoth my grandfather; “the boy is mad! Not if all the +wonders seen by Sinbad the Sailor lay within a day’s sail. Did I not +suffer enough coming here from England? I don’t think,” said my +grandfather with considerable pathos, “that my digestion has ever been +quite right to this day.”</p> + +<p>“‘Sick of a calm,’ eh?—Like your friend Mistress Tearsheet,” said the +youngster. “But I’ve settled it all, and count on you. Look here,” he +continued, drawing from his pocket a large printed bill, and unfolding +it before my ancestor. At the top appeared in large capitals the +words, “Plaza de Toros;” <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 14]</span>and underneath was a woodcut representing a +bull, gazing, with his tail in the air, and an approving smile on his +countenance, on the matadore about to transfix him. Then followed a +glowing account in Spanish of the delights of a great bull-fight +shortly to take place at Cadiz, setting forth the ferocity of the +bulls, the number of horses that might be expected to die in the +arena, and the fame of the picadores and espadas who were then and +there to exhibit.</p> + +<p>The Major shook his head—the captivating prospectus had no charms for +him: he had not, as I have before said, an inquiring mind, and habit +was so strong in him, that a change was like the dislocation of a +joint. The Ensign proceeded to paint the delights of the excursion in +the brightest colours he could command. They were to go to Cadiz in a +boat which he had lately bought; she was a capital sailer—there was a +half-deck forward, under which the Major might sleep as comfortably as +in his own bed—a cooking apparatus (and here, as he expatiated on the +grills and stews and devils that were to be cooked and eaten, with the +additional stimulus to appetite afforded by sea air, there was a spark +of relenting in my grandfather’s eye). “You shall return,” said the +tempter, “with a digestion so completely renovated, that my name shall +rise to your tongue at each meal as a grace before meat, and a +thanksgiving after it; and as to <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 15]</span>sea-sickness, why, this Levanter +will take us there in twelve hours, so smoothly that you may balance a +straw upon your nose the whole way.” Finally, the cunning Ensign laid +before him an application for leave already made out, and only +awaiting his signature.</p> + +<p>My grandfather made some feeble objections, which Owen pooh-poohed in +his usual off-hand fashion. There was no standing against the +youngster’s strong will, and at five o’clock that same evening the +Major found himself proceeding through the town towards the Waterport +for embarkation, by no means fully reconciled to the abandonment of +his beloved Lares. My luckless grandfather! did no presentiment warn +you of a consequence then hanging in the clouds, that was to change +utterly for you the untroubled aspect of those household gods?</p> + +<p>Owen had attired himself for the trip in a half-nautical costume—a +shirt of light-blue flannel, fastened at the collar with a smart +bandana, a blue jacket, loose duck trousers, and a montero cap, which +costume became the puppy well enough. He seemed of this opinion +himself, as he walked gaily along beside the Major: so did the +black-eyed occupants of many houses on each side, who peeped forth +smilingly from behind their green lattices, sometimes nodding, and +kissing their hands—for the Ensign had an incredible acquaintance +with the <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 16]</span>budding and full-blown portion of the population of +Gibraltar. The Major had stuck to his buckskins, (which stuck to him +in return), over which he had drawn a pair of jack-boots, and wore his +red-laced coat and regimental hat—for in those days that passion for +mufti, now so prevalent in the army, did not exist. Whenever he caught +sight of any of the greetings bestowed from the windows, he would take +off his laced hat, and, fixing his eyes on the tittering señorita, who +generally let fall the lattice with a slam, would make her a low +bow—and, after each of these acts of courtesy, my grandfather walked +on more elated than before.</p> + +<p>They passed the drawbridge at Waterport, and, struggling through the +crowd of Turks, Jews, infidels, and heretics, who usually throng the +quay, entered a shore-boat that was to row them out to where Owen’s +vessel—the <i>Fair Unknown</i>, as he had christened her, in memory of his +unforgotten partner at the Carnival ball—lay moored. In her they +found a sailor who was to accompany them on their voyage—a noted +contrabandista, called Francisco, whose friendship Owen had lately +acquired, and who acted as his lieutenant on his marine excursions. +The boat was a neat affair—a small cutter, smartly painted, well +found, and capable of holding several persons comfortably; and +Francisco was a ruddy, portly, dark-skinned, large-whiskered son of +the sea, the picture of good-humour. My grandfather <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 17]</span>stept in, in his +jack-boots. There was much settling of carpet-bags and stowing of +provisions in the lockers, and then they hoisted sail, and glided +smoothly out from among the shipping into the bay.</p> + +<p>The breeze was light and fair, and they went on, as Frank had +promised, pleasantly enough. My grandfather for the first time +surveyed the scene of his two years’ residence from the sea. The grey +old rock looked mellow in the evening light, as an elderly gentleman +over his wine—the window-panes glanced ruddily, the walls gleamed +whitely, and the trees were tinted with a yellower green; behind, in +the eastern sky, floated one single purple cloud. As the objects +became confused in the distance, the sharp rugged outline of the rock +assumed the appearance that has caused the Spaniards to call it El +Cuerpo—the appearance of a vast human body laid out on its back, and +covered with a winding-sheet, like a dead Titan on his funeral +pile—the head towards Spain, the chest arched at Middle Hill, the +legs rising gently upward to the knees at O’Hara’s Tower, and then +sloping down till the feet rest on Europa. The sun went down as they +rounded Cabrita Point, and the breeze, freshening, took them swiftly +along under the huge hills that rise abruptly upward from the Spanish +coast. Then Francisco, lighting a charcoal fire, placed thereon, in a +frying-pan, tender steaks thickly strewn with sliced tomatas and +onions, from whence arose a steam that <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 18]</span>brought tears of gratitude and +delight into my grandfather’s eyes. He anxiously watched the +cooking—even threw out slight suggestions, such as another pinch of +pepper, an additional onion, a slight dash of cayenne, and the like; +and then, settling a plate firmly on the knees of his jack-boots, with +a piece of bread and a cup by his side, and a knife and fork pointing +upwards in his hands like lightning-conductors, gazed cheerfully +around him. And when Francisco, rising from his knees, where he had +been blowing the charcoal fire, removed the hissing pan towards my +grandfather’s plate, transferring to it a liberal portion of the +contents, the good man, gazing on the white and red streaks of +vegetable relieved by the brown background of steak, and the whole +picture swimming in a juicy atmosphere of gravy, felt sentiments of +positive friendship towards that lawless individual, and, filling a +bumper of Xerez, drank success to the voyage.</p> + +<p>Three times was my grandfather’s plate replenished from the +thrice-filled pan. Afterwards he dallied a little with a cold pie, +followed by a bit of cheese for digestion. Then, folding his hands +across his stomach, he expressed his sincere opinion, that he had +never tasted anything so good as that steak; and when Owen placed in +his hand a smoking can of grog, he looked on the young man with a +truly paternal eye. He talked complacently and <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 19]</span>benevolently, as men +do who have dined well—praised the weather, the boat, the scene—and +wondered where a man was going who rode slowly along a mountain-path +above them, within hail, following him, in imagination, to his home, +in a sort of dreamy contentment. After a second can he began to grow +drowsy, and, just aware that Owen said the breeze was still +freshening, retired to the soft mattress spread for him under the +half-deck, and replacing his cocked-hat by a red nightcap, slept till +morning.</p> + +<p>It was broad daylight when he woke, conscious that for an hour or two +past he had been sleeping most uneasily. There was a violent swinging +motion, a rushing of wind and of water, that confused him extremely; +and, forgetting where he was, he nearly fractured his skull by rising +suddenly into a sitting posture. Steadying himself on his hands, in +the posture of the Dying Gladiator, he slewed himself round on the +pivot of his stern, and protruded his powdered head, like an old +beaver, out of his hole. Owen and Francisco were sitting in a pool of +water, trying to shelter themselves under the weather-side of the +boat—dripping wet, and breakfasting on cold potatoes and fragments of +meat left from last night’s meal. My grandfather did not like the +appearance of things at all. Rent in twain by horrible qualms, he +inquired feebly of Owen if they were near Cadiz? Frank, in reply, +shook his head, and said they were at anchor. Then my <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 20]</span>grandfather, +making a vigorous effort, emerged completely from his place of repose, +and, rising to his feet, looked over the gunwale. The scene he beheld +was in dreary contrast to that of the evening before. Ridges of white +foam were all around—ahead was a long low line of sandy coast, +terminating in a point of rock whereon stood a lighthouse; and to +leeward the bay was enclosed by steep hills. Over the low coast-line +the wind blew with steady violence. A bright sun rather increased the +dreariness of the prospect, which was suddenly closed to my +grandfather by a shower of spray, that blinded him, and drenched him +to the skin, converting his jack-boots into buckets. The wind had +increased to a gale during the night, and they had been forced to take +precarious shelter in the harbour of Tarifa. The Major did not venture +on a second peep, but sat, dismally wet and sea-sick, the whole +morning, trying to shelter himself as he best could. Once, a man came +down to the beach, and gesticulated like a scaramouch, screaming also +at the same time; but what his gestures and screams signified nobody +on board could tell. At length, as the gale did not moderate, while +their position increased in discomfort, and was also becoming +precarious (for one of their anchors was gone, and great fears were +entertained for the other), Owen and Francisco decided to weigh, and +stand in for the shore, trusting to the smuggler’s seamanship for a +safe run. The Major, in <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 21]</span>spite of his sickness, stood up and pulled +gallantly at the cable, the wind blowing his pigtail and skirts +perpendicularly out from his person. “Heaf!” screamed Francisco from +the bows; “Heave!” echoed Owen; and as the words flew past him on the +gale, my grandfather’s exertions were prodigious. At last, after +tremendous tugging, the anchor came up. The jib was hoisted with a +reef in it, Owen holding the sheet, while the smuggler ran aft and +took the helm. They bent over to the gale, till the Major stood almost +perpendicularly on the lee gunwale, with his back against the +weather-side, and ran in till he thought they were going to bump +ashore; then tacking, they stood up along the coast, close to the +wind, till Francisco gave the word. Owen let go the sheet, and the jib +fluttered loosely out as they ran through a narrow passage into smooth +water behind the sea-wall, and made fast to a flight of steps.</p> + +<p>Presently some functionary appertaining to the harbour appeared, and +with him an emissary from the Governor of the place, who, aware of +their plight, had civilly sent to offer assistance. The messenger was +the same man who had made signals to them from the beach in the +morning; and he seemed to think it advisable that they should wait on +the Governor in person, saying that he was always disposed to be civil +to British officers. This advice they resolved to act upon at once, +before it <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 22]</span>should grow dark, foreseeing that, in case of their +detention from bad weather in Tarifa, the Governor might prove a +potent auxiliary. The Major would have wished to make some little +alterations in his toilette, after his late disasters; but, after +trying in vain to pull off his jack-boots, which clung to him like his +skin, he was obliged to abandon the idea, and contented himself with +standing on his head to let the water run out of them. As they +advanced along the causeway leading to the town (the point where they +landed is connected with the town by a long narrow sandy isthmus), the +gale swept over them volumes of sand, which, sticking on my +grandfather’s wet uniform, gave him somewhat the appearance of a +brick-wall partially rough-cast. His beard was of two days’ +growth—his hair-powder was converted into green paste by the +sea-water—and his whole appearance was travel-stained and deplorable. +Nevertheless his dignity by no means forsook him as they traversed the +narrow alleys of the ancient town of Tarifa on their way to the +approaching interview.</p> + +<p>His excellency Don Pablo Dotto, a wonderfully fat little man, received +them very courteously. He was a Spaniard of the old school, and +returned the stately greeting of my grandfather, and the easy one of +the Ensign, with such a profusion of bows, that for the space of a +minute they saw little more <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 23]</span>of his person than the shining baldness +on the top of his head. Then they were presented to his wife, a +good-natured, motherly sort of old lady, who seemed to compassionate +them much. But, while Owen was explaining to her the object of their +trip, and its disastrous interruption, he suddenly stopped, +open-mouthed, and blushing violently, with his gaze directed towards +the open door of a neighbouring apartment. There he beheld advancing +towards him, the Beauty of the Carnival ball.</p> + +<p>The Governor’s lady named her as “her daughter, the Señorita Juana.” +Spite of the different dress and circumstances, she too recognised +Frank, and coloured slightly as she came forward to receive his +greeting. The Ensign, an impudent scamp enough in general, was, +however, the more confused of the two; and his embarrassed salutation +was entirely thrown into the shade by the magnificence of my +grandfather’s bow. However, he presently recovered his assurance, and +explained to the elder lady how he had previously enjoyed the pleasure +(with a great stress upon the word) of making her daughter’s +acquaintance. Then he recounted to Juana the manner in which they had +been driven in here, when on their way to Cadiz to see the bull-fight.</p> + +<p>“We also are going to ride thither to-morrow,” said the Señorita, +softly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 24]</span></p><p>“Ah, then, we shall meet there,” said Frank, who presently after was +seized with a fit of absence, and made incoherent replies. He was +considering how they might travel together, and had almost resolved to +offer to take the whole family to Cadiz in his boat—a proposal that +would probably have somewhat astonished the little Governor, +especially if he had seen the dimensions of the craft thus destined to +accommodate himself and retinue. But Garry was an adept in +manœuvring, and marched skilfully upon the point he had in view. He +drew such a pathetic picture of the hardships they had endured on the +voyage—their probable detention here for most of their short +leave—their friendless condition, and their desire to see something +of the country—that the little Governor was in a manner impelled +(fancying all the time that the impulse sprung altogether from his own +native benevolence) to desire that the two forlorn Englishmen would +travel to Cadiz under his escort. So it being settled entirely to +Garry’s satisfaction that they were to start next morning at break of +day on horseback—an arrangement which my grandfather’s total +ignorance of Spanish prevented him from knowing anything about—they +retired to the principal fonda, where the Major speedily forgot, over +a tolerable dinner, the toils and perils of the voyage.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 25]</span></p><h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<p>Daybreak the next morning found them issuing forth from the ancient +city of Tarifa on a couple of respectable-looking hacks, hired from +the innkeeper. Frank had, with his accustomed generalship, managed to +secure a position at the off-rein of the Señorita Juana, who was +mounted on a beautiful little white barb. Under her side-saddle, of +green velvet studded with gilt nails, was a Moorish saddle-cloth, +striped with vivid red and white, and fringed deeply. From the +throat-lash of the bridle hung a long tassel, as an artificial +auxiliary to the barb’s tail in the task of keeping the flies off, +further assisted by a tuft of white horse-hair attached to the butt of +her whip. She wore a looped hat and white plume, a riding-skirt, and +an embroidered jacket of blue cloth, fastened, as was the wrought +bosom of her chemise, with small gold buttons. Frank could not keep +his eyes off her, now riding off to the further side of the road to +take in at once the whole of the beauteous vision, now coming close up +to study it in its delightful details.</p> + +<p>In front of the pair rode the little Governor, side by side with a +Spaniard of about thirty, the long-betrothed lover of Juana—so long, +in fact, that he did not trouble himself to secure his authority in a +territory so undeniably his own, but smoked his <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 26]</span>cigar as coolly as if +there were no good-looking Englishman within fifty miles of his +mistress. He wore garments of the Spanish cut, made of nankeen—the +jacket frogged with silver cords, tagged with little silver +fishes—the latter appended, perhaps, as suitable companions to the +frogs. A hundred yards ahead was an escort of four horse-soldiers with +carbines on their thighs, their steel accoutrements flashing ruddily +in the level sunlight. Behind Frank came Major Flinders, clean shaved, +and with jack-boots and regimental coat restored to something like +their pristine splendour: by his side rode another lady, the Señorita +Carlota, Juana’s aunt, somewhere about thirty years old, plump and +merry, her upper lip fringed at the corners with a line of dark down, +quite decided enough for a cornet of eighteen to be proud of—a +feminine embellishment too common for remark in these southern +regions, and, in the opinion of some connoisseurs, rather enhancing +the beauty of the fair wearers. She talked incessantly, at first, to +my grandfather, who did not understand a word she said, but whose +native politeness prompted him to say, “Si, Señorita,” to +everything—sometimes laying at the same moment his hand on his heart, +and bowing with considerable grace. Behind this pair came another +interesting couple—viz. two servants on mules, with great saddle-bags +stuffed to extreme corpulence with provisions.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 27]</span></p><p>It was a glorious morning—a gentle breeze sweeping on their faces as +they mounted the hills, but dying into silence in the deep valleys, +fresh, and glistening with dew. Sometimes they rode along a rocky +common, yellowed with a flowering shrub like furze—sometimes through +unfenced fields—sometimes along broad plains, where patches of +blossoming beans made the air rich with scent, and along which they +galloped full speed, the Governor standing high in the stirrups of his +demi-pique, the Señorita’s white barb arching his neck till his muzzle +touched his chest under the pressure of the long bit, and my +grandfather prancing somewhat uneasily on his hard-mouthed Spanish +entero, whose nose was, for the most part, projected horizontally in +the air. The Major was not a first-rate seat—he rode with a long +stirrup, his heel well down, his leg straight, and slanting a little +forward, body upright, and elbows back, as may be seen in the plates +to ancient works on equitation—a posture imposing enough, but not +safe across country: galloping deranged it materially, for the steed +was hard-mouthed, and required a long, strong pull, with the body +back, and a good purchase on the stirrups. The animal had a most +voracious appetite, quite overcoming his sense of what was due to his +rider; and, on seeing a tuft of juicy grass, down went his nose, +drawing my grandfather, by means of the tight reins, well over the +pummel. On these occasions,<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 28]</span> the Major, feeling resistance to be in +vain, would sit looking easily about him, feigning to be absorbed in +admiration of the prospect—which was all very well, where there was a +prospect to look at, but wore a less plausible appearance when the +animal paused in a hollow between two hedges, or ran his nose into a +barn-door. But whenever this happened, Carlota, instead of +half-smothering a laugh, as a mischievous English girl would, ten to +one, have done, sat most patiently till the Major and his steed came +to an understanding, and would greet him, as they moved on again, with +a good-natured smile, that won her, each time, a higher place in his +estimation.</p> + +<p>Thus they proceeded till the sun rose high in the heavens, when, on +reaching a grove on the edge of one of the plains, they halted under a +huge cork-tree, near which ran a rivulet. The cavalcade +dismounted—the horses were tethered, the mules disburthened of the +saddle-bags, and the contents displayed under the tree; horse-cloths +and cloaks were spread around on the ground, and a fire of dry sticks +was lit on the edge of the stream with such marvellous celerity that, +before my grandfather had time to take more than a hasty survey of the +eatables, after seating himself on the root of a tree, a cup of +steaming chocolate was placed in his hand.</p> + +<p>“Confess, Major,” said Garry, speaking with his <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 29]</span>mouth full of +sausage, “that a man may lose some of the pleasures of existence by +leading the life of a hermit. Don’t you feel grateful to me for +dragging you out of your cobweb to such a pleasant place as this?”</p> + +<p>“’Tis an excellent breakfast,” said my grandfather, who had just +assisted the Señorita Carlota to a slice of turkey’s breast, and +himself to an entire leg and thigh—dividing with her, at the same +time, a crisp white loaf, having a handle like a teapot or +smoothing-iron—“and my appetite is really very good. I should be +perfectly easy if I could only understand the remarks of this very +agreeable lady, and make suitable replies.”</p> + +<p>“Let me interpret your sentiments,” said Garry; “and though I may not +succeed in conveying them in their original force and poetry, yet they +shall lose as little as possible in transmission. Just try me—what +would you wish to say?”</p> + +<p>“Why, really,” said my grandfather, pondering, “I had a great many +things to say as we came along, but they’ve gone out of my head. Do +you think she ever read Shakespeare?”</p> + +<p>“Not a chance of it,” said Owen.</p> + +<p>Here the Señorita laughingly appealed to Frank to know what my +grandfather was saying about her.</p> + +<p>“Ah,” quoth my grandfather, quoting his friend Shakespeare—</p> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 30]</span>“‘I understand thy <i>looks</i>—the pretty Spanish<br /> +Which thou pourest down from these swelling heavens<br /> +I am <i>not</i> perfect in——’</p></div> + +<p>“She’s an extremely agreeable woman, Frank, I’ll be sworn, if one only +understood her,” quoth my grandfather, casting on her a glance full of +gallantry.</p> + +<p>The Ensign was not so entirely occupied in prosecuting his own love +affair as to be insensible to the facilities afforded him for amusing +himself at the Major’s expense. Accordingly, he made a speech in +Spanish to Carlota, purporting to be a faithful translation of my +grandfather’s, but teeming, in fact, with the most romantic +expressions of chivalrous admiration, as was apparent from the +frequent recurrence of the words “ojos” (eyes), “corazon” (heart), and +the like amatory currency.</p> + +<p>“There, Major,” said the interpreter, as he finished; “I’ve told her +what you said of her.”</p> + +<p>The Major endorsed the compliments by laying his hand upon his heart, +and bowing with a tender air. Whereupon Carlota, laughing, and +blushing a deeper red, made her acknowledgments.</p> + +<p>“She says,” quoth Frank, “that she knew the English before to be a +gallant nation; but that if all the caballéros (that’s gentlemen) of +that favoured race are equal to the present specimen, her own +countrymen must be thrown entirely into the shade.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 31]</span></p><p>“Delightful!” cried my grandfather; but it is doubtful whether this +expression of pleasure was called forth by the sentiments attributed +to the Señorita, or by the crisp succulent tenderness of a mouthful of +sucking-pig which was at that moment spreading itself over his palate.</p> + +<p>Following up his idea, the mischievous Ensign continued to diversify +the graver pursuit of prosecuting his own suit with Juana, by +impressing Carlota and the Major with the idea that each was disposed +to think favourably of the other. In this he was tolerably +successful—the speeches he made to Carlota, supposed to originate +with my grandfather, had a very genuine warmth about them, being, in +fact, very often identical with those he had just been making, under +immediate inspiration, to his own divinity; while as for the Major, it +would have been an insult to the simplicity of that worthy man’s +nature to exert any great ingenuity in deceiving him; it would have +been like setting a trap for a snail. So they journeyed on, highly +pleased with each other, and occasionally, in the absence of their +faithful interpreter, conversed by means of smiles and courteous +gesticulations, till my grandfather felt entirely at his ease, and was +almost sorry when, on the evening of the second day, they got to +Cadiz.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 32]</span></p><h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<p>A whole city full of people condensed into one broad amphitheatre, all +bearing a national resemblance to each other in countenance and +costume, all apparently animated by the same spirit—for nothing could +be more unanimous than the applause which greeted a favourite +smilingly crossing the arena, the abuse which overwhelmed an object +offensive to the eye of the many-headed, or the ridicule which +descended in a joyous uproarious flood on the hapless individual in +whose appearance, dress, or manner, anything was detected calculated +to appeal to the highly sensitive risible faculty of a Spanish +assembly;—a gay and picturesque mixture of colours, waving and +tossing like a garden in a breeze, as the masses of white mantillas, +heads black as coal, decorated with flowers and green leaves, red +sashes, tufted sombreros, and yellow gaiters, with here and there a +blue-and-white soldier standing stiffly up, were agitated by each new +emotion—such was the scene that met the eyes of our travellers on +entering the bull-ring at Cadiz before the sport commenced.</p> + +<p>My grandfather had made his entry in spectacles—appendages highly +provocative of the public mirth—and had looked wonderingly for a +minute or two through the obnoxious glasses on a sea of <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 33]</span>faces +upturned, sideturned, and downturned, all looking at him, and all +shouting some indistinguishable chorus; while the men beat time, each +with the long, forked, painted stick, without which no Spaniard +possessing sentiments of propriety ever comes to a bull-fight, in a +manner most embarrassing to a somewhat bashful stranger, till their +attention was luckily diverted to an unhappy man in a white hat, in +derision of whom they immediately sang a song, the burden of which was +“El del sombrero blanco,” (he of the white hat), the multitude +conducting itself throughout like one man.</p> + +<p>My grandfather and his friends occupied a distinguished position in a +box high above the multitude, and near that of the alcalde. The +Señorita Juana looked more lovely than ever in a white dress, over +which flowed a white gauzy mantilla, giving a kind of misty +indistinctness to the wavy outlines of her figure, and the warm tint +of her neck and arms. From her masses of black hair peeped one spot of +vivid white, a rosebud; and a green plumy leaf, a favourite ornament +with Spanish girls, drooped, bending, and soft as a feather, on one +side of her gold-and-tortoiseshell comb. The Major sat beside Carlota, +who, naturally frank, and looking upon him now as an old acquaintance, +would tap his arm most bewitchingly with her fan when she wanted to +direct his attention to any object of interest. So the Major sat by +her, all gallantry and <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 34]</span>smiles, gazing about him with wonder through +the double gold eyeglass, which still, in spite of the late expression +of popular feeling, bestrid his nose. He looked with the interest of a +child at everything—at the faces and dresses around him, distinct in +their proximity, and at those, confused in their details by distance, +on the opposite side of the arena. He shared in the distress of an +unfortunate person (a contractor for bulls, who had palmed some bad +ones on the public) who tried, as he walked conspicuously across the +ring, to smile off a torrent of popular execration about as +successfully as a lady might attempt to ward off Niagara with her +parasol, and who was, as it were, washed out at an opposite door, +drenched and sodden with jeers. And when the folding-gates were +opened, and the gay procession entered, my grandfather gazed on it +with delight, and shouted “Bravo!” as enthusiastically as if he had +been an habitual frequenter of bull-rings from his earliest youth. +First came the espadas or matadores, their hair clubbed behind like a +woman’s, dressed in bright-coloured jackets, and breeches seamed with +broad silver lace, white stockings, shoes fastened with immense +rosettes, and having their waists girt with silk sashes, bearing on +their arms the blood-coloured cloaks that were to lure the bull upon +the sword-point. Next followed the chulos, similarly attired; then the +picadores, riding stiffly, with padded legs, on their doomed steeds; +and mules, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 35]</span>whose office it was to drag off the dead bulls and horses, +harnessed three abreast as in classic chariots, and almost hidden +under a mass of gay housings, closed the procession. Marching across +the middle of the ring to the alcalde’s box, they requested permission +to begin, and, it being granted, the picadores stationed themselves at +equal distances from each other round the circumference of the arena. +Then, at a signal from the alcalde, two trumpeters in scarlet, behind +him, stood up and sounded—a man, standing with his hand ready on a +bolt in a door underneath, drew it, and pulled the door swiftly back, +shutting himself into a niche, as the dark space thus opened was +filled by the formidable figure of a bull, who, with glancing horns +and tail erect, bounded out, and, looking around during one fierce +brief pause, made straight at the first picador. The cavalier, +standing straight in his stirrups, his lance tucked firmly under his +arm, fixed the point fairly in the shoulder of the brute, who, never +pausing for that, straightway upset man and horse. Then my grandfather +might be seen stretching far over the front of his box, his eyes +staring on the prostrate picador, and his hands clenched above his +head, while he shouted, “By the Lord, sir, he’ll be killed!” And when +a chulo, darting alongside, waved his cloak before the bull’s eyes and +lured him away, the Major, drawing a long breath, turned to a calm +Spaniard beside him, and said, “By <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 36]</span>heaven, sir, ’twas the mercy of +Providence!”—but the Spaniard, taking his cigar from his mouth, and +expelling the smoke through his nostrils, merely said, “Bien está” +(’tis very well.) Meanwhile, the bull (who, like his predecessor in +the china-shop, seemed to have it all his own way) had run his horn +into the heart of a second horse, and the picador, perceiving from the +shivering of the wounded creature that the hurt was mortal, dismounted +in all haste, while the horse, giving one long, blundering stagger, +fell over and died, and was immediately stript of his accoutrements. +This my grandfather didn’t like at all; but, seeing no kindred disgust +in the faces round him, he nerved himself, considering that it was a +soldier’s business to look on wounds and death. He even beheld, with +tolerable firmness, the spectacle of a horse dashing blindfold and +riderless, and mad with fear and pain, against the barrier—rebounding +whence to the earth with a broken shoulder, it was forced again on its +three legs, and led stumbling from the ring. But when he saw another +horse raised to its feet, and, all ript open as it was, spurred to a +second assault, the Major, who hadn’t the heart himself to hurt a fly, +could stand it no longer, but, feeling unwell, retired precipitately +from the scene. On reaching the door, he wrote over the same, with a +bit of chalk, part of the speech of Henry V., “the royal imp of fame,” +to his soldiers at Agincourt:—</p> + +<div class="centerbox3 bbox"><p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 37]</span>“He that hath not stomach for the fight,<br /> +Let him depart——”</p></div> + +<p>to the great astonishment of the two Spanish sentries, who gazed on +the words as if they contained a magical spell.</p> + +<p>Frank sat till it was over—“played out the play.” Not that he saw +much of the fight, however; he had eyes and speech for nothing but +Juana, and was able to indulge his <i>penchant</i> without interruption, as +the little Governor took great interest in the fight, and the lover +with the silver fishes was a connoisseur in the sport, and laid bets +on the number of horses that each particular bull would kill with +great accuracy. So the Ensign had it all his own way, and, being by no +means the sort of person to throw away this or any other opportunity +with which fortune might favour him, got on quite as well, probably, +as you or I might have done in his place.</p> + +<p>Leaving Cadiz next morning, they resumed the order of march they had +adopted in coming—Don Pablo riding, as before, in front with the +knight of the silver fishes, discussing with him the incidents of the +bull-ring. The old gentleman, though very courteous when addressing +the two Englishmen, had but little to say to them—neither did he +trouble himself to talk much to the ladies; and when he did, a sharp +expression would sometimes slip out, convincing Owen that he was +something <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 38]</span>of a domestic tyrant in private—a character by no means +inconsistent with the blandest demeanour in public. The Ensign was at +great pains to encourage the Major to be gracious to Carlota. “Get a +little more tropical in your looks, Major,” he would say; “these +Spanish ladies are not accustomed to frigid glances. She’s desperately +in love with you—pity she can’t express what she feels; and she +mightn’t like to trust an interpreter with her sentiments.”</p> + +<p>“Pooh, nonsense, boy,” said the Major, colouring with pleasure, “she +doesn’t care for an old fellow like me.”</p> + +<p>“Doesn’t she?—see what her eyes say—that’s what I call ocular +demonstration,” quoth the Ensign. “If you don’t return it, you’re a +stock, a stone.” Then he would say something to Carlota, causing her +eyes to sparkle, and canter on to rejoin Juana.</p> + +<p>It was genial summer-time with Carlota—she had passed the age of +maiden diffidence, without having attained that of soured and faded +spinsterhood. She had a sort of jovial confidence in herself, and an +easy demeanour towards the male sex, such as is seen in widows. These +supposed advances of the Major were accordingly met by her rather more +than half-way. None but the Major was permitted to assist her into the +saddle, or to receive her plump form descending from it. None <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 39]</span>but the +Major was beckoned to her rein when the path was broken and perilous, +or caught on his protecting arm the pressure of her outstretched hand, +when her steed stumbled over the loose pebbles. None was repaid for a +slight courtesy by so many warm, confiding smiles as he. These, +following fast one on another, began to penetrate the rusty casing of +the Major’s heart. On his own ground—that is, in his own quarters—he +could have given battle, successfully, to a score of such insidious +enemies: his books, his flowers, his pipe, his slippers, and a hundred +other Penates would have encircled him; but here, with all his strong +palisading of habit torn up and scattered, all his wonted trains of +ideas upset and routed by the novelty of situation and scenery, he lay +totally defenceless, and open to attack. The circumstance of himself +and Carlota being ignorant of each other’s language, far from being an +obstacle to their mutual good-will, rather favoured its progress. In +company with an Englishwoman, in similar circumstances, my grandfather +would have considered himself bound to entertain her with his +conversation, and, perhaps, have spoiled all by trying to make himself +agreeable—it would have been a tax on the patience of both: but being +absolved from any such duty in the present instance, he could without +awkwardness ride onward in full and silent communion with his own +thoughts, and enjoy the <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 40]</span>pleasure of being smiled upon without being +at any pains to earn it.</p> + +<p>His note-book, containing an account of the expedition, which I have +seen—and whence, indeed, the greater part of this chronicle is +gathered—exhibits, at this period of the journey, sufficient proof +that the Major enjoyed this new state of being extremely, and felt his +intellect, his heart, and his stomach all stimulated at once.</p> + +<p>“Spain,” says my grandfather, in a compendious descriptive sentence, +“is a country of garlicky odours, of dirty contentment, of +overburthened donkeys, and of excellent pork; but a fine air in the +hills, and the country much sweeter than the towns. The people don’t +seem to know what comfort is, or cleanliness, but are nevertheless +very contented in their ignorance. My saddle is bad, I think, for I +dismounted very sore to-day. The Señorita mighty pleasant and +gracious. I entertain a great regard for her—no doubt a sensible +woman, as well as a handsome. A pig to-day at breakfast, the best I +have tasted in Spain.”</p> + +<p>The desultory style of the composition of these notes prevents me from +quoting largely from them. Statistics, incidents of travel, +philosophic reflections, and the state of his digestive organs, are +all chronicled indiscriminately. But, from the above mixture of +sentiments, it will be perceived that the Major’s admiration for +Carlota was of a sober nature, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 41]</span>by no means ardent or Quixotic, and +pretty much on a par with his passion for pig.</p> + +<p>This was far from being the case with Garry, who became more and more +enamoured every hour. The Spanish lover continued to conduct himself +as if he had been married to Juana for twenty years, never troubling +himself to be particularly agreeable or attentive, for which obliging +conduct Garry felt very grateful to him. The Major had been too long +accustomed to witness Owen’s philanderings to see anything peculiar in +the present case, till his attention was attracted by a little +incident he accidentally witnessed. After the last halt they made +before reaching Tarifa, Garry was, as usual, at hand, to assist Juana +to her saddle. Her horse was fastened in a thicket of oleanders, whose +flowers and leaves formed a screen such as Cupid himself might have +planted. Garry seized the charming opportunity to offer to re-tie the +ribbons of her hat, which was very considerate; for, to tie them +herself, she would have been obliged to take off her gloves, which +would have been a great trouble. Having done so, still retaining his +hold of the strings, he glanced quickly around, and then drew her +blooming face towards his own till their lips met—for which piece of +impudence he only suffered the slight penalty of a gentle tap with her +whip. My grandfather discreetly and modestly withdrew his eyes, but he +was not the only observer. He of the silver fishes was <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 42]</span>regarding them +with a fixed look from among some neighbouring trees, where he had +tethered his horse. Probably the Spaniard, with all his indifference, +thought this was carrying matters a little too far, for, after +conversing a moment with the Governor, he took his place at Juana’s +side, and did not again quit it till they arrived at Tarifa. Then both +he and the Governor took leave of our travellers with a cold civility, +defying all Garry’s attempts to thaw it, and seeming to forbid all +prospect of a speedy renewal of the acquaintance.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<p>At the inn, that night, the Major betook himself to rest early, that +he might be ready to start for Gibraltar betimes in the morning, for +on the following day their leave was to expire.</p> + +<p>He had slept soundly for several hours, when he was awoke by Owen, who +entered with a candle in his hand. The Major sat up in bed and rubbed +his eyes.</p> + +<p>“Time’s up, my boy, eh?” said he, with a cavernous yawn. “I should +have liked another hour of it, but it can’t be helped,” (preparing to +turn out).</p> + +<p>“I didn’t want to spoil your rest last night,” said Owen, seating +himself on the edge of the bed, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 43]</span>“so I said nothing about a mishap +that has occurred. That smuggling villain, Francisco, took advantage +of our absence to fetch a contraband cargo in the boat from Gibraltar, +and has been caught in attempting to run it here.”</p> + +<p>“God bless me,” said my grandfather, “who would have thought it!—and +he such a capital cook! But what’s to be done? where’s the boat?”</p> + +<p>“The boat is, for the present, confiscated,” said Garry; “but I +daresay the Governor would let us have it in the morning, on +explaining, and would perhaps release Francisco, with the loss of his +cargo; but—but—in fact, Major, I don’t want the Governor to know +anything about our departure.”</p> + +<p>My grandfather stared at him, awaiting further explanation.</p> + +<p>“Juana looked pale last night,” said the Ensign after a pause.</p> + +<p>The Major did not dispute the fact, though he could not, for the life +of him, see what the state of Juana’s complexion had to do with the +subject.</p> + +<p>“She never liked that dingy Spanish lover of hers,” said the Ensign, +“and her father intends she shall marry him in a month. ’Twould make +her miserable for life.”</p> + +<p>“Dear me,” said my grandfather, “how do you know that?”</p> + +<p>“She told me so. You see,” said Owen, shading the candle with his +hand, so that my grandfather <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 44]</span>couldn’t see his face, and speaking +hurriedly, “I didn’t intend we should start alone—in fact—that +is—Juana has agreed to fly with me to Gibraltar.”</p> + +<p>“Agreed!—fly!”—gasped my grandsire: “what an extraordinary young +fellow!”</p> + +<p>“She’s waiting for us now,” resumed Garry, gathering courage after the +first plunge into the subject; “we ought to be off before daylight. +Oblige me, my dear sir” (smiling irresistibly), “by getting up +immediately.”</p> + +<p>“And how are we to get away,” asked my grandfather, “supposing this +insane scheme of yours to be attempted?”</p> + +<p>“I’ve bribed the sentry at Francisco’s place of durance,” returned the +Ensign. “We shall get out of the town the instant the gates are +opened; and the boat is tied to the steps, as before, only under the +charge of a sentry whom we can easily evade. Every guarda costa in the +place was sent out last night to blockade a noted smuggler who has +taken refuge in Tangier; so, once out, we are safe from pursuit: I +found it all out after you had gone to bed.”</p> + +<p>The disposition of Major Flinders, as the reader knows, was the +reverse of enterprising—he wouldn’t have given a straw to be +concerned in the finest adventure that ever happened in romance. He +paused with one stocking on, inclined, like the little <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 45]</span>woman whose +garments had been curtailed by the licentious shears of the pedlar, to +doubt his own identity, and wondering if it could be really he, John +Flinders, to whom such a proposition was broached, requiring him to +assist in invading the peace of a family. As soon as he recovered his +powers of speech, of which astonishment had for a moment deprived him, +he began earnestly to dissuade the Ensign from the enterprise; but +Owen knew his man too well, and had too much youthful vivacity of will +to allow much time for remonstrance.</p> + +<p>“Look you, Major,” said he, “I’m positive I can’t live without Juana. +I’ll make a bold stroke for a wife. The thing’s settled—no going back +now for me; and I shall go through with it with or without you. But +you’re not the man, I’m sure, to desert a fellow in extremity, at a +time, too, when the advantages of your experience and coolness are so +peculiarly needed. ‘Call you that backing of your friends?’”</p> + +<p>The compliment, or the quotation, or both, softened the Major. “‘Would +it were night, Hal, and all well,’” said he, half mechanically +following the Falstaffian train of ideas Owen had artfully conjured +up, and at the same time drawing on the breeches which that astute +youth obsequiously handed to him.</p> + +<p>It was still dark when they issued forth into the <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 46]</span>narrow and dingy +streets of Tarifa. My grandfather, totally unaccustomed to visit the +glimpses of the moon in this adventurous fashion, was full of strange +fears—heard as many imaginary suspicious noises and voices as +Bunyan’s Pilgrim in the dark valley—and once or twice stopt abruptly +and grasped Owen’s arm, while he pointed to a spy dogging them in the +distant gloom, who turned out to be a door-post. But Owen was now in +his element; no tom-cat in Tarifa was more familiar with housetops and +balconies at the witching hour than he, and he stepped gaily on. +Presently they were challenged by a sentry, to whom Owen promptly +advanced and slipped into his itching palm a doubloon, when the +trustworthy warrior immediately turned upon his heel, and, walking to +the extremity of his post, looked with great vigilance in the opposite +direction.</p> + +<p>Owen advanced to a grated window and tapped. Immediately the burly +face of Francisco showed itself thereat, his white teeth glancing +merrily in a glimmer of moonshine. A bar, previously filed through, +was removed from the window, and Owen, taking him by the collar to +assist his egress, drew him through as far as the third button of his +waistcoat, where he stuck for a moment; but the substance was elastic, +and a lusty tug landed him in the middle of the narrow street. +Receiving Frank’s instructions given in a hurried whisper, to go at +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 47]</span>once to where the boat lay, and cast her off, ready to shove off on +the instant, he nodded and disappeared in the darkness, while Owen and +the Major made for the Governor’s house.</p> + +<p>Arrived near it, Owen gave a low whistle—a peculiar one, that my +grandfather remembered to have heard him practising to Juana on the +previous day—when, to the unutterable surprise of the Major, <i>two</i> +veiled figures appeared on the balcony.</p> + +<p>“Why, Owen, boy, d’ye see!” quoth the Major, stuttering with anxiety, +“who can the other be?—her maid, eh?”—indistinct stage recollections +of intriguing waiting-women dawning on him.</p> + +<p>“Ahem!—why, you see, Major,” whispered Owen, “she wouldn’t come +alone—couldn’t manage it at all, in fact, without the knowledge of +her aunt, who sleeps in the next room; so I persuaded Carlota <i>to come +too</i>, and gave her a sort of half promise that <i>you</i> would <i>take care +of her</i>.” Here, wishing to cut short a rather awkward explanation, he +ran under the balcony—one of the ladies dropped a cord—and Owen +producing from under his coat a rope ladder, (he had sat up all night +making it), attached it, and, as soon as it was drawn up, ascended, +motioning to my astounded grandfather to keep it steady below. The +Major, after a moment’s desperate half-resolve to make a hasty retreat +from the perilous incidents which seemed momentarily to thicken round +him, and leave his reckless friend <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 48]</span>to his fate, yielded to the force +of circumstances, and did what was required of him. Then Owen lifted +the ladies, one after the other, over the railing of the balcony, and +they swiftly descended. First came Juana, who, scarcely touching the +Major’s offered hand, lit on the pavement like gossamer; then Carlota +descended, and making, in her trepidation, a false step near the +bottom, came so heavily on the Major, that they rolled together on the +stones. By the time they were on their feet again, Owen had slipped +down the ladder, and, taking Juana under his arm, set off rapidly +towards the bay.</p> + +<p>If anything could have added to the Major’s discomfiture and +embarrassment, it would have been the pressure of Carlota’s arm on +his, as she hung confidingly on him—a pressure not proceeding from +her weight only, but active, and with a meaning in it; but he was in +that state of mental numbness from the successive shocks of +astonishment, that, as with a soldier after the first two dozen, any +additional laceration passed unheeded. He was embarked in an adventure +of which he could by no means see the end; all was strange and dark in +the foreground of his future; and if he had been at that moment tried, +cast, and condemned for an imaginary crime, he would have been too +apathetic to say anything in arrest of judgment.</p> + +<p>With the silence and swiftness of a forlorn hope, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 49]</span>they passed through +the town and along the sandy causeway. The succession of white rolling +waves on their left, where extended the full breadth of the Straits, +while the bay on their right was almost smooth, showed the wind to be +still against them; but it was now so moderate that they might safely +beat up for the Rock. Arrived at the head of the stairs leading to the +water, they paused in the angle of the wall to reconnoitre. Francisco +was lying coiled up in the head of the boat, his hand on the rope, +ready to cast her loose, and the boat-hook projecting over the bow. +Above them, and behind the wall, at a little distance, they could hear +the measured tread of the sentry, and catch the gleam of his bayonet +as he turned upon his walk: a few vigorous shoves would carry them +outside the sea-wall and beyond his ken. All depended on their +silence; and like two stealthy cats did Owen and Juana descend to the +boat—the Major and Carlota watching the success of their attempt with +protruded necks. Cautiously did Owen stride from the last stair to the +deck—cautiously did he transfer Juana to the bark, and guide her aft. +The Major was just preparing to follow, when a noise from the boat +startled him: Juana had upset an unlucky wine-jar which Francisco had +left there. The sentry put his head over the wall, and challenged; +Francisco, starting up, shoved hastily off; the sentry fired his +piece, his bullet shattering the wine-jar that <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 50]</span>had caused the +mischief. Juana screamed, Owen swore in English, and Francisco +surpassed him in Spanish. There was no time to return or wait for the +other pair, for the guard was alarmed by the sentry’s shot, and their +accoutrements might be heard rattling near at hand, as they turned +hastily out. Before they reached the wall, however, the boat had +disappeared.</p> + +<p>Major Flinders watched it till it was out of sight, and, at first, +experienced a feeling of despair at being thus deprived of the aid of +Garry’s boldness and promptitude, and left to his own resources. +Presently, however, a gleam of comfort dawned upon him—perhaps +Carlota would now abandon the enterprise, and he should thus, at any +rate, be freed from the embarrassment her presence occasioned him. In +this hope he was shortly undeceived. To have added the shame of +failure and exposure to her present disappointment, while an opening +to persevere still remained, did not suit that lady’s ardent spirit; +and whether it was that the unscrupulous Garry had really represented +the Major as very much in love, or whether such an impression resulted +from her own lively imagination, she certainly thought her companion +would be as much chagrined at such a denouement as herself. She +displayed a prompt decision in this emergency, being, indeed, as +remarkable for presence as the Major was for absence of mind. Taking +the Major’s <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 51]</span>arm, she caused him swiftly to retrace his steps with her +to the inn where he had slept. As they retreated, they heard the boom +of a gun behind them, fired, doubtless, from the Point, at the Fair +Unknown. At Carlota’s orders, a couple of horses, one with a +side-saddle, were speedily at the inn-door; they mounted, and, before +the sun was yet risen, had issued forth from the gate of Tarifa, on +the road to Gibraltar.</p> + +<p>The Major rode beside her like a man in a dream—in fact, he was +partly asleep, having been deprived of a large portion of his natural +and accustomed rest, and partly bewildered. A few days before he had +been the most methodical, unromantic, not to say humdrum, old bachelor +in his Majesty’s service; and here he was, how or why he did not well +know, galloping away at daybreak with a foreign lady, of whose +existence he had been ignorant a week before, with the prospect of +being apprehended by her relatives for her abduction, and incarcerated +by the Government for assisting in the escape of a smuggler. When at +length roused to complete consciousness by the rapidity of their +motion, he positively groaned in anguish of spirit, and vowed +internally that, once within the shelter of his own quiet quarters, +nothing on earth should again tempt him forth on such harum-scarum +expeditions.</p> + +<p>It was near noon when they reached Algeçiras, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 52]</span>where they stopped to +breakfast, both of them rather exhausted with fatigue and hunger. This +town stands just opposite Gibraltar, across the bay—the road they had +come by forms the base of a triangle, of which Cabrita Point is the +apex, the bay washing one side of the projecting coast, the Straits +the other. The Major was reserved and embarrassed; there was a +tenderness about Carlota’s manner that frightened him out of his usual +gallantry, and, to avoid meeting her glance, he looked steadily out of +the window at the rock of Gibraltar, casting wistful glances at the +spot where his quarters lay hidden in a little clump of foliage. +Immediately after the meal he quitted the room, on pretence of looking +after the horses. He determined to protract their stay in Algeçiras +till late in the afternoon, that they might enter Gibraltar in the +dusk, and thus avoid awkward meetings with equestrian parties from the +garrison, who would then be hastening homewards, in order to be in +before gun-fire, when the gates are shut.</p> + +<p>On returning, still out of temper, to the room where he had left +Carlota, he found her, quite overcome with fatigue, asleep on the +sofa. Her head was thrown a little back on the cushion; her lips were +just parted, and she looked in her sleep like a weary child. The Major +approached on tiptoe, and stood regarding her. His ill-humour melted +fast into pity. He thought of all her kindness to him, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 53]</span>and, by a +sudden soft-hearted impulse, took gently one of her hands projecting +over the side of the sofa. Carlota opened her eyes, and squeezed the +hand that held hers; whereupon the Major suddenly quitted his hold, +and, retreating with great discomposure to the window, did not venture +to look at her again till it was time to resume their journey.</p> + +<p>At a little distance from Algeçiras is the river Palmones, called by +the English the Second River. This was crossed by a floating bridge, +pulled from shore to shore by a ferryman warping on a rope extended +across. They had just reached the opposite bank of the stream, when +Carlota noticed two horsemen galloping fast along the road they had +just traversed. A second glance showed them to be Don Pablo and the +lover of Juana. The first inquiries of the Governor had led him to +suppose that all had escaped in the boat, and it was not till some +time after that he had learned the true state of affairs.</p> + +<p>The fugitives now hastened on in earnest, and roused their horses to a +steady gallop, never pausing till they reached the Guadaranque, or +First River, about a mile nearer Gibraltar than the other, and +furnished with a similar bridge. The delay of the pursuers at the +former ferry had thrown them far in rear; and my grandfather, inspired +by the imminence of the peril, now conceived a bright idea—the +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 54]</span>brightest, probably, that ever flashed upon him—by executing which +they might effectually distance their pursuers. Dropping his glove at +a little distance from the shore, he sent the ferryman to fetch it, +and then pushed off (Carlota having already embarked), and warped the +bridge to the opposite bank, heedless of the frantic gesticulations of +the proprietor, who screamed furiously after them to stop. When he +reached the opposite side, he took out his pocket-knife and +deliberately cut the rope. Having thus, as it were, blown up the +communication in his rear, my grandfather, without the loss of his +baggage, continued his retreat to the fortress; while the little +Governor, who galloped up just as they were disappearing, was, like +Lord Ullin, left lamenting.</p> + +<p>The sun was already declining, and threw their shadows far before them +on the sands, as they rode along the beach close to the water. The bay +at this inner extremity makes a great circular sweep—radii drawn from +the rock to different distant points of the arc would be almost equal; +and for half an hour they continued to see Gibraltar at nearly the +same distance to the right and in front of them, holding itself aloof +most provokingly. Twilight descended as they passed the Spanish lines +and entered on the Neutral Ground. The Major glanced anxiously at his +watch—in a few minutes the gun from Middle Hill would give the signal +for <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 55]</span>shutting the gates, and doom them irretrievably to return into +Spain for the night. For the first time in his life Major Flinders +really punished his horse, lifting the tired beast along with whip and +rein. Carlota’s kept easily beside him under her lighter weight, and +they rapidly neared the barrier. Just as they passed it, a stream of +flame shot from the rock, illumining objects like a flash of +lightning;—then came the heavy report of the gun—another minute and +the drawbridge at Landport would be lifted; but they were upon it. +They dashed across somewhat in the style of Marmion quitting Douglas’s +castle, “just as it trembled on the rise,” and were safe in Gibraltar.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<p>After life’s fitful fever, the Major did not sleep well. He had left +Carlota comfortably established at the inn; and he now lay nervously +thinking how his embarrassment with regard to her was to terminate, +especially if Owen did not shortly make his appearance. Then he was +worried by doubts as to the fate of the Fair Unknown and her +passengers. They might have been recaptured, as escaped smugglers, by +a guarda costa—they might be detained in the Straits by adverse winds +or calms—they might have run ashore into some bay, and come on +overland. <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 56]</span>This last supposition haunted him most pertinaciously, and +he resolved to go up the rock as soon as it should be daylight, to +look out for them along the road from Spain. He lay tossing restlessly +till the morning gun gave the signal of the approach of dawn, and +before the echoes died away he had his breeches on.</p> + +<p>Night was at odds with morning when my grandfather, with a telescope +under his arm, sallied forth and began the ascent. Silence was over +the rock, except an occasional sighing of a remnant of night wind that +had lost itself among the crags. At first, the only clear outline +visible was that of the rugged edge of the rock above against the +colourless sky; but as he toiled up the steep zigzag path, the day +kept pace with him—each moment threw a broader light on the +scene—blots of shadow became bushes or deep fissures, and new shapes +of stone glided into view. The only symptoms of animal life that he +beheld were a rabbit that fled silently to his hole, and a great white +vulture that, startled from his perch on a grey crag, sailed slowly +upward on his black-tipped wings, circling higher and higher, till his +breast was crimsoned by the yet unrisen sun.</p> + +<p>The path led diagonally to the summit; and, turning a sharp level +corner, my grandfather looked perpendicularly down on the +Mediterranean, whose lazy waves, sending up a gentle murmur, rippled +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 57]</span>far below him. On his left, also steep down below him, was the +Neutral Ground, level as the sea itself, extending northward into +sandy plains, abruptly crossed by tumbled heaps of brown mountains. A +reddening of the sky showed that the sun was at hand; and presently +the glowing disk came swiftly up from behind the eastern hills; the +pale earth shared in the ruddiness of the sky, and a long rosy gleam +swept gradually over the breadth of the grey sea, like an unwilling +smile spreading itself from a man’s lips to his eyes and forehead.</p> + +<p>Conspicuous on the highest point in the landscape stood my +grandfather, panting with his exertions as he wiped his forehead. +After standing for a moment, bronzed in front like a smith at the +furnace, face to face with the sun, he turned and swept with his +telescope the road into Spain. Early peasants, microscopic as ants, +were bringing their fruits and vegetables into the fortress—a laden +mule or two advanced along the beach over which the Major had last +night galloped—but nothing resembling what he sought was in sight. +Then turning completely round, with his face to the path he had just +ascended, he gave a long look towards the Straits; and as he did so, +the wind, which had shifted to the south-west towards morning, blew +gently on his face. A sail or two was discernible in the distance, +outward bound, but nothing resembling the cutter. As the Major +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 58]</span>looked, a signal was made from Cabrita, and directly two feluccas +left their station at Algeçiras, and swooped out, like two white +birds, as if to intercept some bark yet hidden by the Point. Again my +grandfather looked out to the Strait, and presently a small white sail +came in sight near Cabrita. For a quarter of an hour he stood +steadily, with levelled telescope, and then he was almost sure—yes, +he could swear—that he saw the small English ensign relieved against +the sail; and above, at the masthead, the yellow-striped flag that +Francisco hoisted before as the mark of a yacht. It was the Fair +Unknown—and my grandfather at once comprehended that the pursuers, +whom he had escaped the night before, had, on returning to Algeçiras, +made arrangements for her capture as soon as she should appear.</p> + +<p>The breeze was on her beam, and much fresher with her than farther in +the bay, so that the feluccas steered slantingly across her course as +she made for the rock. They held on thus, the pursuers and pursued, +till within a mile of each other, when the cutter suddenly altered her +course to one nearly parallel with that of the feluccas. The latter, +however, now gained fast upon her, and presently a puff of smoke from +the bow of the foremost was followed by the report of a gun. My +grandfather could look no longer through his glass, for his hand shook +like a reed, but began, with huge strides, more resembling those of a +kangaroo than a quiet middle-aged gentleman, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 59]</span>to descend the rock. +Breathless, he reached his quarters, had his horse saddled and brought +out, and galloped off towards Europa.</p> + +<p>Europa Point is at the southern extremity of the rock, and commands at +once the entrance of the bay and the passage of the Straits. The road +to it from the north, where the Major was quartered, affords, for the +most part, a view of the bay. Many an anxious glance did he cast, as +he sped along, at the state of affairs on the water. The feluccas +fired several shots, but all seemed to fall wide, and were probably +intended only to frighten the chase, out of consideration for her fair +freight. Still, however, the English colours floated, and still the +cutter held her course.</p> + +<p>Some artillerymen and an officer were assembled at the Point as the +Major galloped up.</p> + +<p>“Can’t you fire at ’em?” said he, as he drew up beside the battery.</p> + +<p>“Too far off,” said the Lieutenant, rising from the parapet on which +he was leaning, and showing a drowsy unshaven countenance; “we should +only frighten them.”</p> + +<p>“By heavens!” said my grandfather, “’tis horrible. I shall see the boy +taken before my eyes!”</p> + +<p>“Boy!” quoth the Lieutenant, wondering what particular interest the +Major could take in the smuggler. “What boy?”</p> + +<p>“Why, Owen of ours—he’s running away with a Spanish lady.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 60]</span></p><p>“The devil!” cried the Lieutenant, jumping down. “What, Garry +Owen!—we must try a long shot. Pull those quoins out” (to a gunner). +“Corporal, lay that gun; a dollar if you hit the felucca. I’ll try a +shot with this one.” So saying, he laid the thirty-two pounder next +him with great care.</p> + +<p>“Fire!” said he, jumping on the parapet to see the effect of the shot. +At the second rebound it splashed under the bows of the leading +felucca, which still held on. She was now scarcely three hundred yards +from the cutter.</p> + +<p>“Why, d—n their impudence!” muttered the Lieutenant, on seeing his +warning pass unheeded, “they won’t take a hint. Corporal, let drive at +’em.”</p> + +<p>The Corporal earned his dollar. The shot went through the side of the +felucca, on board of which all was presently confusion; in a few +minutes it was apparent she was sinking. The other, abandoning the +chase, went to the assistance of her consort, lifting the crew out, +some of whom were evidently hurt.</p> + +<p>“A blessed shot!” cried my grandfather, giving the lucky Corporal a +bit of gold; “but I’m glad they’re picking up the crew.”</p> + +<p>The cutter instantly stood in for the harbour, and half an hour +afterwards the Major bade his young friend and Juana welcome to +Gibraltar.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 61]</span></p><p>Carlota was beside herself with joy at seeing the wanderers safe. She +first cast herself upon Juana, and cried over her; then embraced the +Ensign, who made no scruple of kissing her; lastly, threw herself +tenderly upon the Major, who gazed over her head as it lay on his +shoulder with a dismayed expression, moving his arms uneasily, as if +he didn’t know what he was expected to do with them. Every moment it +was becoming clearer to him that he was a compromised man, no longer +his own property. On his way through the streets that morning he had +passed a knot of officers, one of whom he overheard describing “Old +Flinders” as “a sly old boy,” for that he “had run away with a +devilish handsome Spaniard—who would have thought it?” “Ay, who +indeed!” groaned the Major, internally. But the seal was put to his +doom by the Colonel, who, when he went to report himself, slapped him +on the shoulder, and congratulated him on his happiness. “Fine woman, +I hear, Flinders—didn’t give you credit for such spirit—hope you’ll +be happy together.” The Major, muttering an inarticulate denial, +hastily retreated, and from that moment surrendered himself to his +fate an unresisting victim.</p> + +<p>About dusk that night, Owen came to him.</p> + +<p>“By heavens!” the Ensign began, throwing himself into a chair, “I’m +the most unlucky scoundrel! Nothing goes right with me. I promised +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 62]</span>myself that this should be my wedding-night—and here I am, as +forlorn a bachelor as ever.”</p> + +<p>“What has gone wrong?” inquired my grandfather, removing his pipe from +his mouth.</p> + +<p>“I pressed her with all my eloquence,” said Owen; “reminded her of her +promise to marry me the day we should arrive here—of the necessity of +caring for her reputation, after leaving her father’s house and coming +here under my protection” (here my grandfather winced;) “talked, in +fact, like an angel who had been bred a special pleader—yet it was +all of no use.”</p> + +<p>“Deliberating about marriage!” said the Major, “after leaving her +father and lover for you! What gnat can she be straining at, after +swallowing a camel of such magnitude?”</p> + +<p>“A piece of female Quixotry,” returned Owen. “She says she can’t think +of such selfishness as being comfortably married herself, while +Carlota is so unhappy, and her fate so unsettled.” Here he made a +significant pause; but my grandfather was immovably silent, only +glancing nervously at him, and smoking very hard.</p> + +<p>“In fact, she protests she won’t hear of marrying me, till you have +settled when you will marry Carlota.”</p> + +<p>“Marry Carlota!” gasped the Major in an agonised whisper.</p> + +<p>“Why, you don’t mean to say you’re not going <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 63]</span>to marry her!” exclaimed +the Ensign, throwing a vast quantity of surprise into his expressive +countenance.</p> + +<p>“Why—why, what should I marry her for?” stammered the Major.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Lord!” said Garry, “here will be pleasant news for her! Curse me +if I break it to her.”</p> + +<p>“But really now, Frank,” the Major repeated—“marriage, you know—why, +I never thought of such a thing.”</p> + +<p>“You’re the only person that hasn’t, then,” rejoined Owen. “Why, what +can the garrison think, after the way you smuggled her in; what can +she herself think, after all your attentions?”</p> + +<p>“Attentions, my dear boy;—the merest civility.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,—ah! ’twas civility, I suppose, to squeeze her hand in the inn at +Algeçiras, in the way she told Juana of—and heaven knows what else +you may have done during the flight. Juana is outrageous against +you—actually called you a vile deceiver; but Carlota’s feeling is +more of sorrow than of anger. She is persuaded that nothing but your +ignorance of Spanish has prevented your tongue from confirming what +your looks have so faithfully promised. I was really quite affected +to-day at the appealing look she cast on me after you left the room; +she evidently expected me to communicate her destiny.”</p> + +<p>My grandfather smoked hard.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 64]</span></p><p>“Lots of fellows would give their ears for such a wife,” pursued the +Ensign. “Lovelace, the Governor’s aide-de-camp, bribed the waiter of +the hotel to lend him his apron to-day, at dinner, that he might come +in and look at her—swears she’s a splendid woman, and that he’d run +away with such another to-morrow.”</p> + +<p>Still my grandfather smoked hard, but said nothing, though there was a +slight gleam of pride in his countenance.</p> + +<p>“Poor thing!” sighed Garry. “All her prospects blighted for ever. +Swears she never can love another.”</p> + +<p>At this my grandfather’s eyes grew moist, and he coughed as if he had +swallowed some tobacco-smoke.</p> + +<p>“And as for me, to have Juana at my lips, as it were, and yet not +mine—for she’s as inflexible as if she’d been born a Mede or +Persian—to know that you are coming between me and happiness as +surely as if you were an inexorable father or a cruel guardian—worse, +indeed; for those might be evaded. Major, major, have you no +compassion!—two days of this will drive me crazy.”</p> + +<p>The Major changed his pipe from his right hand to his left, and, +stretching the former across the table, sympathetically pressed that +of the Ensign.</p> + +<p>“Do, Major,” quoth Garry, changing his flank movement for a direct +attack—“do consent to make <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 65]</span>yourself and me happy; do empower me to +negotiate for our all going to church to-morrow.” (My grandfather gave +a little jump in his chair at this, as if he were sitting on a pin.) +“I’ll manage it all, you shan’t have the least trouble in the matter.”</p> + +<p>My grandfather spoke not.</p> + +<p>“Silence gives consent,” said the Ensign, rising. “Come, now, if you +don’t forbid me, I’ll depart on my embassy at once; you needn’t speak, +I’ll spare your blushes. I see this delay has only been from modesty, +or perhaps a little ruse on your part. Once, twice, thrice,—I go.” +And he vanished.</p> + +<p>The Major remained in his chair, in the same posture. His pipe was +smoked out, but he continued to suck absently at the empty tube. His +bewilderment and perturbation were so great that, though he sat up +till two in the morning, during which time he smoked eleven pipes, and +increased the two glasses of grog with which he was accustomed to +prepare for his pillow to four, he was still, when he went to bed, as +agitated as ever.</p> + +<p>In this state of mind he went to the altar, for next day a double +ceremony was performed, making Owen happy with Juana, and giving +Carlota a husband and me a grandfather. The Major was more like a +proxy than a principal in the affair; for Owen, taking the entire +management upon himself, left him little more to do than to make the +necessary responses.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 66]</span></p><p>Carlota made a very good-tempered, quiet, inobtrusive helpmate, and +continued to be fond of her spouse even after he was a grey-headed +colonel. My grandfather, though credulous in most matters, could with +difficulty be brought to consider himself married. He would sometimes +seem to forget the circumstance for a whole day together, till it came +to be forced on his recollection at bed-time. And when, about a year +after his marriage, a new-born female Flinders (now my venerable aunt) +was brought one morning by the nurse for his inspection and approval, +he gazed at it with a puzzled air, and could not be convinced that he +was actually in the presence of his own flesh and blood, till he had +touched the cheek of his first-born with the point of his +tobacco-pipe, removed from his mouth for that purpose, making on the +infant’s countenance a small indentation.</p> + +<p>The little Governor, Don Pablo, was subsequently induced to forgive +his relatives, and frequent visits and attentions were interchanged, +till the commencement of the siege put a stop to all intercourse +between Gibraltar and Spain.</p> + +<p>I have often, on a summer’s evening, sat looking across the bay at a +gorgeous sunset, and retracing in imagination the incidents I have +related. My grandfather’s establishment was broken up during the siege +by the enemy’s shells, but a similar one now stands on what I think +must have been about <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 67]</span>the site of it. The world has changed since +then; but Spain is no land of change; and, looking on the imperishable +outline of the Andaluçian hills, unaltered, probably, since a time to +which the period of my tale is but as yesterday, it is easy for me to +“daff aside” the noisy world without, and, dropping quietly behind the +age, to picture to myself my old-fashioned grandfather issuing forth +from yonder white-walled town of Algeçiras with his future bride.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 68]</span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_IRON_SHROUD" id="THE_IRON_SHROUD"></a>THE IRON SHROUD.</h2> + +<h3>BY WILLIAM MUDFORD.</h3> + +<h4>[<i>MAGA.</i> <span class="smcap">August 1830.</span>]</h4> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he castle of the Prince of Tolfi was built on the summit of the +towering and precipitous rock of Scylla, and commanded a magnificent +view of Sicily in all its grandeur. Here, during the wars of the +middle ages, when the fertile plains of Italy were devastated by +hostile factions, those prisoners were confined, for whose ransom a +costly price was demanded. Here, too, in a dungeon, excavated deep in +the solid rock, the miserable victim was immured, whom revenge +pursued,—the dark, fierce, and unpitying revenge of an Italian heart.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vivenzio</span>—the noble and the generous, the fearless in battle, and the +pride of Naples in her sunny hours of peace—the young, the brave, the +proud Vivenzio, fell beneath this subtle and remorseless spirit. He +was the prisoner of Tolfi, and he languished in that rock-encircled +dungeon, which stood alone, and whose portals never opened twice upon +a living captive.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 69]</span></p><p>It had the semblance of a vast cage, for the roof, and floor, and +sides, were of iron, solidly wrought, and spaciously constructed. High +above there ran a range of seven grated windows, guarded with massy +bars of the same metal, which admitted light and air. Save these, and +the tall folding-doors beneath them which occupied the centre, no +chink, or chasm, or projection, broke the smooth black surface of the +walls. An iron bedstead, littered with straw, stood in one corner: and +beside it, a vessel with water, and a coarse dish filled with coarser +food.</p> + +<p>Even the intrepid soul of Vivenzio shrunk with dismay as he entered +this abode, and heard the ponderous doors triple-locked by the silent +ruffians who conducted him to it. Their silence seemed prophetic of +his fate, of the living grave that had been prepared for him. His +menaces and his entreaties, his indignant appeals for justice, and his +impatient questioning of their intentions, were alike vain. They +listened, but spoke not. Fit ministers of a crime that should have no +tongue!</p> + +<p>How dismal was the sound of their retiring steps! And, as their faint +echoes died along the winding passages, a fearful presage grew within +him, that never more the face, or voice, or tread, of man, would greet +his senses. He had seen human beings for the last time! And he had +looked his last upon the bright sky, and upon the smiling earth, and +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 70]</span>upon a beautiful world he loved, and whose minion he had been! Here +he was to end his life—a life he had just begun to revel in! And by +what means? By secret poison? or by murderous assault? No—for then it +had been needless to bring him thither. Famine perhaps—a thousand +deaths in one! It was terrible to think of it; but it was yet more +terrible to picture long, long years of captivity, in a solitude so +appalling, a loneliness so dreary, that thought, for want of +fellowship, would lose itself in madness, or stagnate into idiocy.</p> + +<p>He could not hope to escape, unless he had the power, with his bare +hands, of rending asunder the solid iron walls of his prison. He could +not hope for liberty from the relenting mercies of his enemy. His +instant death, under any form of refined cruelty, was not the object +of Tolfi, for he might have inflicted it, and he had not. It was too +evident, therefore, he was reserved for some premeditated scheme of +subtle vengeance; and what vengeance could transcend in fiendish +malice, either the slow death of famine, or the still slower one of +solitary incarceration, till the last lingering spark of life expired, +or till reason fled, and nothing should remain to perish but the brute +functions of the body?</p> + +<p>It was evening when Vivenzio entered his dungeon, and the approaching +shades of night wrapped it in total darkness, as he paced up and down, +revolving in his mind these horrible forebodings. <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 71]</span>No tolling bell +from the castle, or from any neighbouring church or convent, struck +upon his ear to tell how the hours passed. Frequently he would stop +and listen for some sound that might betoken the vicinity of man; but +the solitude of the desert, the silence of the tomb, are not so still +and deep as the oppressive desolation by which he was encompassed. His +heart sank within him, and he threw himself dejectedly down upon his +couch of straw. Here sleep gradually obliterated the consciousness of +misery, and bland dreams wafted his delighted spirit to scenes which +were once glowing realities for him, in whose ravishing illusions he +soon lost the remembrance that he was Tolfi’s prisoner.</p> + +<p>When he awoke, it was daylight; but how long he had slept he knew not. +It might be early morning, or it might be sultry noon, for he could +measure time by no other note of its progress than light and darkness. +He had been so happy in his sleep, amid friends who loved him, and the +sweeter endearments of those who loved him as friends could not, that +in the first moments of waking, his startled mind seemed to admit the +knowledge of his situation, as if it had burst upon it for the first +time, fresh in all its appalling horrors. He gazed round with an air +of doubt and amazement, and took up a handful of the straw upon which +he lay, as though he would ask himself what it meant. <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 72]</span>But memory, too +faithful to her office, soon unveiled the melancholy past, while +reason, shuddering at the task, flashed before his eyes the tremendous +future. The contrast overpowered him. He remained for some time +lamenting, like a truth, the bright visions that had vanished; and +recoiling from the present, which clung to him as a poisoned garment.</p> + +<p>When he grew more calm, he surveyed his gloomy dungeon. Alas! the +stronger light of day only served to confirm what the gloomy +indistinctness of the preceding evening had partially disclosed, the +utter impossibility of escape. As, however, his eyes wandered round +and round, and from place to place, he noticed two circumstances which +excited his surprise and curiosity. The one, he thought, might be +fancy; but the other was positive. His pitcher of water, and the dish +which contained his food, had been removed from his side while he +slept, and now stood near the door. Were he even inclined to doubt +this, by supposing he had mistaken the spot where he saw them +over-night, he could not, for the pitcher now in his dungeon was +neither of the same form nor colour as the other, while the food was +changed for some other of better quality. He had been visited, +therefore, during the night. But how had the person obtained entrance? +Could he have slept so soundly, that the unlocking and opening of +those ponderous portals were effected without waking him? He would +have said this <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 73]</span>was not possible, but that in doing so, he must admit +a greater difficulty, an entrance by other means, of which he was +convinced there existed none. It was not intended, then, that he +should be left to perish from hunger. But the secret and mysterious +mode of supplying him with food, seemed to indicate he was to have no +opportunity of communicating with a human being.</p> + +<p>The other circumstance which had attracted his notice, was the +disappearance, as he believed, of one of the seven grated windows that +ran along the top of his prison. He felt confident that he had +observed and counted them; for he was rather surprised at their +number, and there was something peculiar in their form, as well as in +the manner of their arrangement, at unequal distances. It was so much +easier, however, to suppose he was mistaken, than that a portion of +the solid iron, which formed the walls, could have escaped from its +position, that he soon dismissed the thought from his mind.</p> + +<p>Vivenzio partook of the food that was before him, without +apprehension. It might be poisoned; but if it were he knew he could +not escape death, should such be the design of Tolfi, and the quickest +death would be the speediest release.</p> + +<p>The day passed wearily and gloomily; though not without a faint hope +that, by keeping watch at night, he might observe when the person came +again to bring him food, which he supposed he <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 74]</span>would do in the same +way as before. The mere thought of being approached by a living +creature, and the opportunity it might present of learning the doom +prepared, or preparing, for him, imparted some comfort. Besides, if he +came alone, might he not in a furious onset overpower him? Or he might +be accessible to pity, or the influence of such munificent rewards as +he could bestow, if once more at liberty and master of himself. Say he +were armed. The worst that could befall, if nor bribe, nor prayers, +nor force prevailed, was a friendly blow, which, though dealt in a +damned cause, might work a desired end. There was no chance so +desperate, but it looked lovely in Vivenzio’s eyes, compared with the +idea of being totally abandoned.</p> + +<p>The night came, and Vivenzio watched. Morning came, and Vivenzio was +confounded! He must have slumbered without knowing it. Sleep must have +stolen over him when exhausted by fatigue, and in that interval of +feverish repose, he had been baffled: for there stood his replenished +pitcher of water, and there his day’s meal! Nor was this all. Casting +his looks towards the windows of his dungeon, he counted but <small>FIVE</small>! +<i>Here</i> was no deception; and he was now convinced there had been none +the day before. But what did all this portend? Into what strange and +mysterious den had he been cast? He gazed till his eyes ached; he +could discover nothing to explain the mystery. That it was so, he +<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 75]</span>knew. Why it was so, he racked his imagination in vain to conjecture. +He examined the doors. A simple circumstance convinced him they had +not been opened.</p> + +<p>A wisp of straw, which he had carelessly thrown against them the +preceding day, as he paced to and fro, remained where he had cast it, +though it must have been displaced by the slightest motion of either +of the doors. This was evidence that could not be disputed; and it +followed there must be some secret machinery in the walls by which a +person could enter. He inspected them closely. They appeared to him +one solid and compact mass of iron; or joined, if joined they were, +with such nice art, that no mark of division was perceptible. Again +and again he surveyed them—and the floor—and the roof—and that +range of visionary windows, as he was now almost tempted to consider +them: he could discover nothing, absolutely nothing, to relieve his +doubts or satisfy his curiosity. Sometimes he fancied that altogether +the dungeon had a more contracted appearance—that it looked smaller; +but this he ascribed to fancy, and the impression naturally produced +upon his mind by the undeniable disappearance of two of the windows.</p> + +<p>With intense anxiety, Vivenzio looked forward to the return of night; +and as it approached, he resolved that no treacherous sleep should +again betray him. Instead of seeking his bed of straw, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 76]</span>he continued +to walk up and down his dungeon till daylight, straining his eyes in +every direction through the darkness, to watch for any appearances +that might explain these mysteries. While thus engaged, and as nearly +as he could judge (by the time that afterwards elapsed before the +morning came in), about two o’clock, there was a slight tremulous +motion of the floors. He stooped. The motion lasted nearly a minute; +but it was so extremely gentle, that he almost doubted whether it was +real, or only imaginary. He listened. Not a sound could be heard. +Presently, however, he felt a rush of cold air blow upon him; and +dashing towards the quarter whence it seemed to proceed, he stumbled +over something which he judged to be the water ewer. The rush of cold +air was no longer perceptible; and as Vivenzio stretched out his +hands, he found himself close to the walls. He remained motionless for +a considerable time; but nothing occurred during the remainder of the +night to excite his attention, though he continued to watch with +unabated vigilance.</p> + +<p>The first approaches of the morning were visible through the grated +windows, breaking, with faint divisions of light, the darkness that +still pervaded every other part, long before Vivenzio was enabled to +distinguish any object in his dungeon. Instinctively and fearfully he +turned his eyes, hot and inflamed with watching, towards them. There +were <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 77]</span><small>FOUR!</small> He could <i>see</i> only four: but it might be that some +intervening object prevented the fifth from becoming perceptible; and +he waited impatiently to ascertain if it were so. As the light +strengthened, however, and penetrated every corner of the cell, other +objects of amazement struck his sight. On the ground lay the broken +fragments of the pitcher he had used the day before, and at a small +distance from them, nearer to the wall, stood the one he had noticed +the first night. It was filled with water, and beside it was his food. +He was now certain that, by some mechanical contrivance, an opening +was obtained through the iron wall, and that through this opening the +current of air had found entrance. But how noiseless! For had a +feather almost waved at the time, he must have heard it. Again he +examined that part of the wall; but both to sight and touch it +appeared one even and uniform surface, while to repeated and violent +blows there was no reverberating sound indicative of hollowness.</p> + +<p>This perplexing mystery had for a time withdrawn his thoughts from the +windows; but now, directing his eyes again towards them, he saw that +the fifth had disappeared in the same manner as the preceding two, +without the least distinguishable alteration of external appearances. +The remaining four looked as the seven had originally looked; that is, +occupying, at irregular distances, the top of the wall on that side of +the dungeon. The tall folding-<span class='pagenum'>[Pg 78]</span>door, too, still seemed to stand +beneath, in the centre of these four, as it had at first stood in the +centre of the seven. But he could no longer doubt, what, on the +preceding day, he fancied might be the effect of visual deception. The +dungeon <i>was</i> smaller. The roof had lowered—and the opposite ends had +contracted the intermediate distance by a space equal, he thought, to +that over which the three windows had extended. He was bewildered in +vain imaginings to account for these things. Some frightful +purpose—some devilish torture of mind or body—some unheard-of device +for producing exquisite misery, lurked, he was sure, in what had taken +place.</p> + +<p>Oppressed with this belief, and distracted more by the dreadful +uncertainty of whatever fate impended, than he could be dismayed, he +thought, by the knowledge of the worst, he sat ruminating, hour after +hour, yielding his fears in succession to every haggard fancy. At last +a horrible suspicion flashed suddenly across his mind, and he started +up with a frantic air. “Yes!” he exclaimed, looking wildly round his +dungeon, and shuddering as he spoke—“Yes! it must be so! I see it!—I +feel the maddening truth like scorching flames upon my brain! Eternal +God!—support me! it must be so!—Yes, yes, <i>that</i> is to be my fate! +Yon roof will descend!—these walls will hem me round—and slowly, +slowly, crush me in their iron arms! <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 79]</span>Lord God! look down upon me, and +in mercy strike me with instant death! Oh, fiend—oh, devil—is this +your revenge?”</p> + +<p>He dashed himself upon the ground in agony;—tears burst from him, and +the sweat stood in large drops upon his face—he sobbed aloud—he tore +his hair—he rolled about like one suffering intolerable anguish of +body, and would have bitten the iron floor beneath him; he breathed +fearful curses upon Tolfi, and the next moment passionate prayers to +heaven for immediate death. Then the violence of his grief became +exhausted, and he lay still, weeping as a child would weep. The +twilight of departing day shed its gloom around him ere he arose from +that posture of utter and hopeless sorrow. He had taken no food. Not +one drop of water had cooled the fever of his parched lips. Sleep had +not visited his eyes for six-and-thirty hours. He was faint with +hunger; weary with watching, and with the excess of his emotions. He +tasted of his food; he drank with avidity of the water; and reeling +like a drunken man to his straw, cast himself upon it to brood again +over the appalling image that had fastened itself upon his almost +frenzied thoughts.</p> + +<p>He slept. But his slumbers were not tranquil. He resisted, as long as +he could, their approach; and when, at last, enfeebled nature yielded +to their influence, he found no oblivion from his cares. Terrible +dreams haunted him—ghastly visions harrowed <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 80]</span>up his imagination—he +shouted and screamed, as if he already felt the dungeon’s ponderous +roof descending on him—he breathed hard and thick, as though writhing +between its iron walls. Then would he spring up—stare wildly about +him—stretch forth his hands, to be sure he yet had space enough to +live—and, muttering some incoherent words, sink down again, to pass +through the same fierce vicissitudes of delirious sleep.</p> + +<p>The morning of the fourth day dawned upon Vivenzio. But it was high +noon before his mind shook off its stupor, or he awoke to a full +consciousness of his situation. And what a fixed energy of despair sat +upon his pale features, as he cast his eyes upwards, and gazed upon +the <small>THREE</small> windows that now alone remained! The three!—there were no +more!—and they seemed to number his own allotted days. Slowly and +calmly he next surveyed the top and sides, and comprehended all the +meaning of the diminished height of the former, as well as of the +gradual approximation of the latter. The contracted dimensions of his +mysterious prison were now too gross and palpable to be the juggle of +his heated imagination. Still lost in wonder at the means, Vivenzio +could put no cheat upon his reason, as to the end. By what horrible +ingenuity it was contrived, that walls, and roof, and windows, should +thus silently and imperceptibly, without noise, and without motion +almost, fold, as it were, within each <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 81]</span>other, he knew not. He only +knew they did so; and he vainly strove to persuade himself it was the +intention of the contriver, to rack the miserable wretch who might be +immured there with anticipation, merely, of a fate, from which, in the +very crisis of his agony, he was to be reprieved.</p> + +<p>Gladly would he have clung even to this possibility, if his heart +would have let him; but he felt a dreadful assurance of its fallacy. +And what matchless inhumanity it was to doom the sufferer to such +lingering torments—to lead him day by day to so appalling a death, +unsupported by the consolations of religion, unvisited by any human +being, abandoned to himself, deserted of all, and denied even the sad +privilege of knowing that his cruel destiny would awaken pity! Alone +he was to perish!—alone he was to wait a slow coming torture, whose +most exquisite pangs would be inflicted by that very solitude and that +tardy coming!</p> + +<p>“It is not death I fear,” he exclaimed, “but the death I must prepare +for! Methinks, too, I could meet even that—all horrible and revolting +as it is—if it might overtake me now. But where shall I find +fortitude to tarry till it come? How can I outlive the three long days +and nights I have to live? There is no power within me to bid the +hideous spectre hence—none to make it familiar to my thoughts; or +myself, patient of its errand. My thoughts, rather, will flee from me, +and I grow mad <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 82]</span>in looking at it. Oh! for a deep sleep to fall upon +me! That so, in death’s likeness, I might embrace death itself, and +drink no more of the cup that is presented to me, than my fainting +spirit has already tasted!”</p> + +<p>In the midst of these lamentations, Vivenzio noticed that his +accustomed meal, with the pitcher of water, had been conveyed, as +before, into his dungeon. But this circumstance no longer excited his +surprise. His mind was overwhelmed with others of a far greater +magnitude. It suggested, however, a feeble hope of deliverance; and +there is no hope so feeble as not to yield some support to a heart +bending under despair. He resolved to watch, during the ensuing night, +for the signs he had before observed; and should he again feel the +gentle, tremulous motion of the floor, or the current of air, to seize +that moment for giving audible expression to his misery. Some person +must be near him, and within reach of his voice, at the instant when +his food was supplied; some one, perhaps, susceptible of pity. Or if +not, to be told even that his apprehensions were just, and that his +fate <i>was</i> to be what he foreboded, would be preferable to a suspense +which hung upon the possibility of his worst fears being visionary.</p> + +<p>The night came; and as the hour approached when Vivenzio imagined he +might expect the signs, he stood fixed and silent as a statue. He +feared to <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 83]</span>breathe, almost, lest he might lose any sound which would +warn him of their coming. While thus listening, with every faculty of +mind and body strained to an agony of attention, it occurred to him he +should be more sensible of the motion, probably, if he stretched +himself along the iron floor. He accordingly laid himself softly down, +and had not been long in that position when—yes—he was certain of +it—the floor moved under him! He sprang up, and in a voice suffocated +nearly with emotion, called aloud. He paused—the motion ceased—he +felt no stream of air—all was hushed—no voice answered to his—he +burst into tears, and as he sank to the ground, in renewed anguish, +exclaimed—“Oh, my God! my God! You alone have power to save me now, +or strengthen me for the trial you permit.”</p> + +<p>Another morning dawned upon the wretched captive, and the fatal index +of his doom met his eyes. Two windows!—and <i>two</i> days—and all would +be over! Fresh food—fresh water! The mysterious visit had been paid, +though he had implored it in vain. But how awfully was his prayer +answered in what he now saw! The roof of the dungeon was within a foot +of his head. The two ends were so near, that in six paces he trod the +space between them. Vivenzio shuddered as he gazed, and as his steps +traversed the narrowed area. But his feelings no longer vented +themselves <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 84]</span>in frantic wailings. With folded arms, and clenched teeth, +with eyes that were bloodshot from much watching, and fixed with a +vacant glare upon the ground, with a hard quick breathing, and a +hurried walk, he strode backwards and forwards in silent musing for +several hours. What mind shall conceive, what tongue utter, or what +pen describe the dark and terrible character of his thoughts? Like the +fate that moulded them, they had no similitude in the wide range of +this world’s agony for man. Suddenly he stopped, and his eyes were +riveted upon that part of the wall which was over his bed of straw. +Words are inscribed there! A human language, traced by a human hand! +He rushes towards them; but his blood freezes as he reads:—</p> + +<p>“I, Ludovico Sforza, tempted by the gold of the Prince of Tolfi, spent +three years in contriving and executing this accursed triumph of my +art. When it was completed, the perfidious Tolfi, more devil than man, +who conducted me hither one morning, to be witness, as he said, of its +perfection, doomed me to be the first victim of my own pernicious +skill; lest, as he declared, I should divulge the secret, or repeat +the effort of my ingenuity. May God pardon him, as I hope he will me, +that ministered to his unhallowed purpose! Miserable wretch, whoe’er +thou art, that readest these lines, fall on thy knees, and invoke, as +I have done, His sustaining mercy, who alone can nerve thee to meet +the <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 85]</span>vengeance of Tolfi, armed with this tremendous engine which, in a +few hours, must crush <i>you</i>, as it will the needy wretch who made it.”</p> + +<p>A deep groan burst from Vivenzio. He stood, like one transfixed, with +dilated eyes, expanded nostrils, and quivering lips, gazing at this +fatal inscription. It was as if a voice from the sepulchre had sounded +in his ears, “Prepare!” Hope forsook him. There was his sentence, +recorded in those dismal words. The future stood unveiled before him, +ghastly and appalling. His brain already feels the descending +horror—his bones seem to crack and crumble in the mighty grasp of the +iron walls! Unknowing what it is he does, he fumbles in his garment +for some weapon of self-destruction. He clenches his throat in his +convulsive gripe, as though he would strangle himself at once. He +stares upon the walls, and his warring spirit demands, “Will they not +anticipate their office if I dash my head against them?” An hysterical +laugh chokes him as he exclaims, “Why should I? He was but a man who +died first in their fierce embrace; and I should be less than man not +to do as much!”</p> + +<p>The evening sun was descending, and Vivenzio beheld its golden beams +streaming through one of the windows. What a thrill of joy shot +through his soul at the sight! It was a precious link, that united +him, for the moment, with the world beyond. There was ecstasy in the +thought. As he gazed, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 86]</span>long and earnestly, it seemed as if the windows +had lowered sufficiently for him to reach them. With one bound he was +beneath them—with one wild spring he clung to the bars. Whether it +was so contrived, purposely to madden with delight the wretch who +looked, he knew not; but, at the extremity of a long vista, cut +through the solid rocks, the ocean, the sky, the setting sun, olive +groves, shady walks, and, in the farthest distance, delicious glimpses +of magnificent Sicily, burst upon his sight. How exquisite was the +cool breeze as it swept across his cheek, loaded with fragrance! He +inhaled it as though it were the breath of continued life. And there +was a freshness in the landscape, and in the rippling of the calm +green sea, that fell upon his withering heart like dew upon the +parched earth. How he gazed, and panted, and still clung to his hold! +sometimes hanging by one hand, sometimes by the other, and then +grasping the bars with both, as loth to quit the smiling paradise +outstretched before him; till exhausted, and his hands swollen and +benumbed, he dropped helpless down, and lay stunned for a considerable +time by the fall.</p> + +<p>When he recovered, the glorious vision had vanished. He was in +darkness. He doubted whether it was not a dream that had passed before +his sleeping fancy; but gradually his scattered thoughts returned, and +with them came remembrance. Yes! he had looked once again upon the +gorgeous splendour <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 87]</span>of nature! Once again his eyes had trembled +beneath their veiled lids, at the sun’s radiance, and sought repose in +the soft verdure of the olive-tree, or the gentle swell of undulating +waves. Oh, that he were a mariner, exposed upon those waves to the +worst fury of storm and tempest; or a very wretch, loathsome with +disease, plague-stricken, and his body one leprous contagion from +crown to sole, hunted forth to gasp out the remnant of infectious life +beneath those verdant trees, so he might shun the destiny upon whose +edge he tottered!</p> + +<p>Vain thoughts like these would steal over his mind from time to time, +in spite of himself; but they scarcely moved it from that stupor into +which it had sunk, and which kept him, during the whole night, like +one who had been drugged with opium. He was equally insensible to the +calls of hunger and of thirst, though the third day was now commencing +since even a drop of water had passed his lips. He remained on the +ground, sometimes sitting, sometimes lying; at intervals, sleeping +heavily; and when not sleeping, silently brooding over what was to +come, or talking aloud, in disordered speech, of his wrongs, of his +friends, of his home, and of those he loved, with a confused mingling +of all.</p> + +<p>In this pitiable condition, the sixth and last morning dawned upon +Vivenzio, if dawn it might be called—the dim, obscure light which +faintly <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 88]</span>struggled through the <small>ONE SOLITARY</small> window of his dungeon. He +could hardly be said to notice the melancholy token. And yet he did +notice it; for as he raised his eyes and saw the portentous sign, +there was a slight convulsive distortion of his countenance. But what +did attract his notice, and at the sight of which his agitation was +excessive, was the change his iron bed had undergone. It was a bed no +longer. It stood before him, the visible semblance of a funeral couch +or bier! When he beheld this, he started from the ground; and, in +raising himself, suddenly struck his head against the roof, which was +now so low that he could no longer stand upright. “God’s will be +done!” was all he said, as he crouched his body, and placed his hand +upon the bier; for such it was. The iron bedstead had been so +contrived, by the mechanical art of Ludovico Sforza, that as the +advancing walls came in contact with its head and feet, a pressure was +produced upon concealed springs, which, when made to play, set in +motion a very simple though ingeniously-contrived machinery, that +effected the transformation. The object was, of course, to heighten, +in the closing scene of this horrible drama, all the feelings of +despair and anguish, which the preceding ones had aroused. For the +same reason, the last window was so made as to admit only a shadowy +kind of gloom rather than light, that the wretched captive might be +surrounded, <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 89]</span>as it were, with every seeming preparation for +approaching death.</p> + +<p>Vivenzio seated himself on his bier. Then he knelt and prayed +fervently; and sometimes tears would gush from him. The air seemed +thick, and he breathed with difficulty; or it might be that he fancied +it was so, from the hot and narrow limits of his dungeon, which were +now so diminished that he could neither stand up nor lie down at his +full length. But his wasted spirits and oppressed mind no longer +struggled within him. He was past hope, and fear shook him no more. +Happy if thus revenge had struck its final blow; for he would have +fallen beneath it almost unconscious of a pang. But such a lethargy of +the soul, after such an excitement of its fiercest passions, had +entered into the diabolical calculations of Tolfi; and the fell +artificer of his designs had imagined a counteracting device.</p> + +<p>The tolling of an enormous bell struck upon the ears of Vivenzio! He +started. It beat but once. The sound was so close and stunning, that +it seemed to shatter his very brain, while it echoed through the rocky +passages like reverberating peals of thunder. This was followed by a +sudden crash of the roof and walls, as if they were about to fall upon +and close around him at once. Vivenzio screamed, and instinctively +spread forth his arms, as though he had a giant’s strength to hold +them back. They <span class='pagenum'>[Pg 90]</span>had moved nearer to him, and were now motionless. +Vivenzio looked up, and saw the roof almost touching his head, even as +he sat cowering beneath it; and he felt that a farther contraction of +but a few inches only must commence the frightful operation. Roused as +he had been, he now gasped for breath. His body shook violently—he +was bent nearly double. His hands rested upon either wall, and his +feet were drawn under him to avoid the pressure in front. Thus he +remained for more than an hour, when that deafening bell beat again, +and again there came the crash of horrid death. But the concussion was +now so great that it struck Vivenzio down. As he lay gathered up in +lessened bulk, the bell beat loud and frequent—crash succeeded +crash—and on, and on, and on came the mysterious engine of death, +till Vivenzio’s smothered groans were heard no more! He was horribly +crushed by the ponderous roof and collapsing sides—and the flattened +bier was his <i>Iron Shroud</i>.</p> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<p class="center"><small>PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.</small></p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h3><span class="smcap">Footnote:</span></h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> When a student in Germany, the writer had twelve months’ +drill in fencing from a French emigrant, and saw a fencing-match <i>à +l’outrance</i> between that equivocal personage the Chevalier d’Eon—then +an elderly man or woman—with a young and vigorous fencing-master, an +emigrant nobleman, who, like Colonna, by rapid involutions, so +entangled the foil of the Chevalier, that he was at length quite +exhausted, and unable to ward off the incessant attacks of his +adversary. He recollects, too, a curious fact, that the Chevalier, +when fencing, emitted, whenever he lunged out, a succession of sounds +from the throat, which he can only compare with the short grunts of a +frightened pig.—<i>April 1858.</i></p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Note:</span></h3> + +<p>1. Minor changes have been made to correct obvious typesetters’ errors; +otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the authors’ +words and intent.</p> + +<p>2. The page numbering used in this e-text follows that used in the original paper book.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tales from "Blackwood", by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD" *** + +***** This file should be named 31826-h.htm or 31826-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/8/2/31826/ + +Produced by D Alexander, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tales from "Blackwood" + +Author: Various + +Release Date: March 30, 2010 [EBook #31826] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD" *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + TALES + FROM + "BLACKWOOD" + + Contents of this Volume + + _The Glenmutchkin Railway. By Professor Aytoun_ + + _Vanderdecken's Message Home_ + + _The Floating Beacon_ + + _Colonna the Painter_ + + _Napoleon. By J. G. Lockhart_ + + _A Legend of Gibraltar. By Col. E. B. Hamley_ + + _The Iron Shroud. By William Mudford_ + + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS + EDINBURGH AND LONDON + + + + +TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD." + + + + + HOW WE GOT UP THE GLENMUTCHKIN RAILWAY + AND HOW WE GOT OUT OF IT + +BY PROFESSOR AYTOUN. + +[_MAGA._ OCTOBER 1845.] + +[The following Tale appeared in the Magazine for October 1845. It was +intended by the writer as a sketch of some of the more striking +features of the railway mania (then in full progress throughout Great +Britain), as exhibited in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Although bearing the +appearance of a burlesque, it was in truth an accurate delineation (as +will be acknowledged by many a gentleman who had the misfortune to be +"out in the Forty-five"); and subsequent disclosures have shown that +it was in no way exaggerated. + +Although the "Glenmutchkin line" was purely imaginary, and not +intended by the writer to apply to any particular scheme then before +the public, it was identified in Scotland with more than one reckless +and impracticable project; and even the characters introduced were +supposed to be typical of personages who had attained some notoriety +in the throng of speculation. Any such resemblances must be considered +as fortuitous; for the writer cannot charge himself with the +discourtesy of individual satire or allusion.] + + +I was confoundedly hard up. My patrimony, never of the largest, had +been for the last year on the decrease--a herald would have emblazoned +it, "ARGENT, a money-bag improper, in detriment"--and though the +attenuating process was not excessively rapid, it was, nevertheless, +proceeding at a steady ratio. As for the ordinary means and appliances +by which men contrive to recruit their exhausted exchequers, I knew +none of them. Work I abhorred with a detestation worthy of a scion of +nobility; and, I believe, you could just as soon have persuaded the +lineal representative of the Howards or Percys to exhibit himself in +the character of a mountebank, as have got me to trust my person on +the pinnacle of a three-legged stool. The rule of three is all very +well for base mechanical souls; but I flatter myself I have an +intellect too large to be limited to a ledger. "Augustus," said my +poor mother to me, while stroking my hyacinthine tresses, one fine +morning, in the very dawn and budding-time of my existence--"Augustus, +my dear boy, whatever you do, never forget that you are a gentleman." +The maternal maxim sunk deeply into my heart, and I never for a moment +have forgotten it. + +Notwithstanding this aristocratic resolution, the great practical +question, "How am I to live?" began to thrust itself unpleasantly +before me. I am one of that unfortunate class who have neither uncles +nor aunts. For me, no yellow liverless individual, with characteristic +bamboo and pigtail--emblems of half-a-million--returned to his native +shores from Ceylon or remote Penang. For me, no venerable spinster +hoarded in the Trongate, permitting herself few luxuries during a +long-protracted life, save a lass and a lanthorn, a parrot, and the +invariable baudrons of antiquity. No such luck was mine. Had all +Glasgow perished by some vast epidemic, I should not have found myself +one farthing the richer. There would have been no golden balsam for me +in the accumulated woes of Tradestown, Shettleston, and Camlachie. The +time has been when--according to Washington Irving and other veracious +historians--a young man had no sooner got into difficulties than a +guardian angel appeared to him in a dream, with the information that +at such and such a bridge, or under such and such a tree, he might +find, at a slight expenditure of labour, a gallipot secured with +bladder, and filled with glittering tomauns; or in the extremity +of despair, the youth had only to append himself to a cord, and +straightway the other end thereof, forsaking its staple in the +roof, would disclose amidst the fractured ceiling the glories of a +profitable pose. These blessed days have long since gone by--at any +rate, no such luck was mine. My guardian angel was either woefully +ignorant of metallurgy or the stores had been surreptitiously +ransacked; and as to the other expedient, I frankly confess I should +have liked some better security for its result, than the precedent +of the "Heir of Lynn." + +It is a great consolation amidst all the evils of life, to know that, +however bad your circumstances may be, there is always somebody else +in nearly the same predicament. My chosen friend and ally, Bob +M'Corkindale, was equally hard up with myself, and, if possible, more +averse to exertion. Bob was essentially a speculative man--that is, in +a philosophical sense. He had once got hold of a stray volume of Adam +Smith, and muddled his brains for a whole week over the intricacies of +the _Wealth of Nations_. The result was a crude farrago of notions +regarding the true nature of money, the soundness of currency, and +relative value of capital, with which he nightly favoured an admiring +audience at "The Crow;" for Bob was by no means--in the literal +acceptation of the word--a dry philosopher. On the contrary, he +perfectly appreciated the merits of each distinct distillery; and was +understood to be the compiler of a statistical work, entitled, _A Tour +through the Alcoholic Districts of Scotland_. It had very early +occurred to me, who knew as much of political economy as of the +bagpipes, that a gentleman so well versed in the art of accumulating +national wealth, must have some remote ideas of applying his +principles profitably on a smaller scale. Accordingly, I gave +M'Corkindale an unlimited invitation to my lodgings; and, like a good +hearty fellow as he was, he availed himself every evening of the +license; for I had laid in a fourteen-gallon cask of Oban whisky, and +the quality of the malt was undeniable. + +These were the first glorious days of general speculation. Railroads +were emerging from the hands of the greater into the fingers of the +lesser capitalists. Two successful harvests had given a fearful +stimulus to the national energy; and it appeared perfectly certain +that all the populous towns would be united, and the rich agricultural +districts intersected, by the magical bands of iron. The columns of +the newspapers teemed every week with the parturition of novel +schemes; and the shares were no sooner announced than they were +rapidly subscribed for. But what is the use of my saying anything more +about the history of last year? Every one of us remembers it perfectly +well. It was a capital year on the whole, and put money into many a +pocket. About that time, Bob and I commenced operations. Our available +capital, or negotiable bullion, in the language of my friend, amounted +to about three hundred pounds, which we set aside as a joint fund for +speculation. Bob, in a series of learned discourses, had convinced me +that it was not only folly, but a positive sin, to leave this sum +lying in the bank at a pitiful rate of interest, and otherwise +unemployed, whilst every one else in the kingdom was having a pluck at +the public pigeon. Somehow or other, we were unlucky in our first +attempts. Speculators are like wasps; for when they have once got hold +of a ripening and peach-like project, they keep it rigidly for their +own swarm, and repel the approach of interlopers. Notwithstanding all +our efforts, and very ingenious ones they were, we never, in a single +instance, succeeded in procuring an allocation of original shares; and +though we did now and then make a hit by purchase, we more frequently +bought at a premium, and parted with our scrip at a discount. At the +end of six months, we were not twenty pounds richer than before. + +"This will never do," said Bob, as he sat one evening in my rooms +compounding his second tumbler. "I thought we were living in an +enlightened age; but I find I was mistaken. That brutal spirit of +monopoly is still abroad and uncurbed. The principles of free-trade +are utterly forgotten, or misunderstood. Else how comes it that David +Spreul received but yesterday an allocation of two hundred shares in +the Westermidden Junction; whilst your application and mine, for a +thousand each, were overlooked? Is this a state of things to be +tolerated? Why should he, with his fifty thousand pounds, receive a +slapping premium, whilst our three hundred of available capital +remains unrepresented? The fact is monstrous, and demands the +immediate and serious interference of the legislature." + +"It is a burning shame," said I, fully alive to the manifold +advantages of a premium. + +"I'll tell you what, Dunshunner," rejoined M'Corkindale, "it's no use +going on in this way. We haven't shown half pluck enough. These +fellows consider us as snobs, because we don't take the bull by the +horns. Now's the time for a bold stroke. The public are quite ready to +subscribe for anything--and we'll start a railway for ourselves." + +"Start a railway with three hundred pounds of capital!" + +"Pshaw, man! you don't know what you're talking about--we've a great +deal more capital than that. Have not I told you seventy times over, +that everything a man has--his coat, his hat, the tumblers he drinks +from, nay, his very corporeal existence--is absolute marketable +capital? What do you call that fourteen-gallon cask, I should like to +know?" + +"A compound of hoops and staves, containing about a quart and a half +of spirits--you have effectually accounted for the rest." + +"Then it has gone to the fund of profit and loss, that's all. +Never let me hear you sport those old theories again. Capital is +indestructible, as I am ready to prove to you any day, in half an +hour. But let us sit down seriously to business. We are rich enough to +pay for the advertisements, and that is all we need care for in the +mean time. The public is sure to step in, and bear us out handsomely +with the rest." + +"But where in the face of the habitable globe shall the railway be? +England is out of the question, and I hardly know a spot in the +Lowlands that is not occupied already." + +"What do you say to a Spanish scheme--the Alcantara Union? Hang me +if I know whether Alcantara is in Spain or Portugal; but nobody +else does, and the one is quite as good as the other. Or what would +you think of the Palermo Railway, with a branch to the sulphur +mines?--that would be popular in the North--or the Pyrenees Direct? +They would all go to a premium." + +"I must confess I should prefer a line at home." + +"Well, then, why not try the Highlands? There must be lots of traffic +there in the shape of sheep, grouse, and Cockney tourists, not to +mention salmon and other et-ceteras. Couldn't we tip them a railway +somewhere in the west?" + +"There's Glenmutchkin, for instance----" + +"Capital, my dear fellow! Glorious! By Jove, first-rate!" shouted Bob +in an ecstasy of delight. "There's a distillery there, you know, and a +fishing-village at the foot--at least there used to be six years ago, +when I was living with the exciseman. There may be some bother about +the population, though. The last laird shipped every mother's son of +the aboriginal Celts to America; but, after all, that's not of much +consequence. I see the whole thing! Unrivalled scenery--stupendous +waterfalls--herds of black cattle--spot where Prince Charles Edward +met Macgrugar of Glengrugar and his clan! We could not possibly have +lighted on a more promising place. Hand us over that sheet of paper, +like a good fellow, and a pen. There is no time to be lost, and the +sooner we get out the prospectus the better." + +"But, heaven bless you, Bob, there's a great deal to be thought of +first. Who are we to get for a Provisional Committee?" + +"That's very true," said Bob, musingly. "We _must_ treat them to some +respectable names, that is, good sounding ones. I'm afraid there is +little chance of our producing a Peer to begin with?" + +"None whatever--unless we could invent one, and that's hardly +safe--_Burke's Peerage_ has gone through too many editions. Couldn't +we try the Dormants?" + +"That would be rather dangerous in the teeth of the standing orders. +But what do you say to a baronet? There's Sir Polloxfen Tremens. He +got himself served the other day to a Nova Scotia baronetcy, with just +as much title as you or I have; and he has sported the riband, and +dined out on the strength of it ever since. He'll join us at once, for +he has not a sixpence to lose." + +"Down with him, then," and we headed the Provisional list with the +pseudo Orange-tawny. + +"Now," said Bob, "it's quite indispensable, as this is a Highland +line, that we should put forward a Chief or two. That has always a +great effect upon the English, whose feudal notions are rather of the +mistiest, and principally derived from Waverley." + +"Why not write yourself down as the Laird of M'Corkindale?" said I. "I +daresay you would not be negatived by a counter-claim." + +"That would hardly do," replied Bob, "as I intend to be Secretary. +After all, what's the use of thinking about it? Here goes for an +extempore Chief;" and the villain wrote down the name of Tavish +M'Tavish of Invertavish. + +"I say, though," said I, "we must have a real Highlander on the list. +If we go on this way, it will become a Justiciary matter." + +"You're devilish scrupulous, Gus," said Bob, who, if left to himself, +would have stuck in the names of the heathen gods and goddesses, or +borrowed his directors from the Ossianic chronicles, rather than have +delayed the prospectus. "Where the mischief are we to find the men? I +can think of no others likely to go the whole hog; can you?" + +"I don't know a single Celt in Glasgow except old M'Closkie, the +drunken porter at the corner of Jamaica Street." + +"He's the very man! I suppose, after the manner of his tribe, he will +do anything for a pint of whisky. But what shall we call him? Jamaica +Street, I fear, will hardly do for a designation." + +"Call him THE M'CLOSKIE. It will be sonorous in the ears of the +Saxon!" + +"Bravo!" and another Chief was added to the roll of the clans. + +"Now," said Bob, "we must put you down. Recollect, all the +management--that is, the allocation--will be intrusted to you. +Augustus--you haven't a middle name, I think?--well, then, suppose we +interpolate 'Reginald;' it has a smack of the Crusades. Augustus +Reginald Dunshunner, Esq. of--where, in the name of Munchausen!" + +"I'm sure I don't know. I never had any land beyond the contents of a +flower-pot. Stay--I rather think I have a superiority somewhere about +Paisley." + +"Just the thing," cried Bob. "It's heritable property, and therefore +titular. What's the denomination?" + +"St Mirrens." + +"Beautiful! Dunshunner of St Mirrens, I give you joy! Had you +discovered that a little sooner--and I wonder you did not think of +it--we might both of us have had lots of allocations. These are not +the times to conceal hereditary distinctions. But now comes the +serious work. We must have one or two men of known wealth upon the +list. The chaff is nothing without a decoy-bird. Now, can't you help +me with a name?" + +"In that case," said I, "the game is up, and the whole scheme +exploded. I would as soon undertake to evoke the Ghost of Croesus." + +"Dunshunner," said Bob very seriously, "to be a man of information, +you are possessed of marvellous few resources. I am quite ashamed of +you. Now listen to me. I have thought deeply upon this subject, and am +quite convinced that, with some little trouble, we may secure the +co-operation of a most wealthy and influential body--one, too, that is +generally supposed to have stood aloof from all speculation of the +kind, and whose name would be a tower of strength in the moneyed +quarters. I allude," continued Bob, reaching across for the kettle, +"to the great Dissenting Interest." + +"The what?" cried I, aghast. + +"The great Dissenting Interest. You can't have failed to observe the +row they have lately been making about Sunday travelling and +education. Old Sam Sawley, the coffin-maker, is their principal +spokesman here; and wherever he goes the rest will follow, like a +flock of sheep bounding after a patriarchal ram. I propose, therefore, +to wait upon him to-morrow, and request his co-operation in a scheme +which is not only to prove profitable, but to make head against the +lax principles of the present age. Leave me alone to tickle him. I +consider his name, and those of one or two others belonging to the +same meeting-house--fellows with bank-stock, and all sorts of tin, as +perfectly secure. These dissenters smell a premium from an almost +incredible distance. We can fill up the rest of the committee with +ciphers, and the whole thing is done." + +"But the engineer--we must announce such an officer as a matter of +course." + +"I never thought of that," said Bob. "Couldn't we hire a fellow from +one of the steamboats?" + +"I fear that might get us into trouble: You know there are such things +as gradients and sections to be prepared. But there's Watty Solder, +the gas-fitter, who failed the other day. He's a sort of civil +engineer by trade, and will jump at the proposal like a trout at the +tail of a May fly." + +"Agreed. Now, then, let's fix the number of shares. This is our first +experiment, and I think we ought to be moderate. No sound political +economist is avaricious. Let us say twelve thousand, at twenty pounds +a-piece." + +"So be it." + +"Well, then, that's arranged. I'll see Sawley and the rest to-morrow; +settle with Solder, and then write out the prospectus. You look in +upon me in the evening, and we'll revise it together. Now, by your +leave, let's have in the Welsh rabbit and another tumbler to drink +success and prosperity to the Glenmutchkin Railway." + +I confess that, when I rose on the morrow, with a slight headache and +a tongue indifferently parched, I recalled to memory, not without +perturbation of conscience, and some internal qualms, the conversation +of the previous evening. I felt relieved, however, after two spoonfuls +of carbonate of soda, and a glance at the newspaper, wherein I +perceived the announcement of no less than four other schemes equally +preposterous with our own. But, after all, what right had I to assume +that the Glenmutchkin project would prove an ultimate failure? I had +not a scrap of statistical information that might entitle me to form +such an opinion. At any rate, Parliament, by substituting the Board of +Trade as an initiating body of inquiry, had created a responsible +tribunal, and freed us from the chance of obloquy. I saw before me a +vision of six months' steady gambling, at manifest advantage, in the +shares, before a report could possibly be pronounced, or our +proceedings be in any way overhauled. Of course I attended that +evening punctually at my friend M'Corkindale's. Bob was in high +feather; for Sawley no sooner heard of the principles upon which the +railway was to be conducted, and his own nomination as a director, +than he gave in his adhesion, and promised his unflinching support to +the uttermost. The Prospectus ran as follows:-- + + "DIRECT GLENMUTCHKIN RAILWAY. + IN 12,000 SHARES OF L20 EACH. DEPOSIT L1 PER SHARE + + _Provisional Committee._ + + SIR POLLOXFEN TREMENS, Bart. of Toddymains. + TAVISH M'TAVISH of Invertavish. + THE M'CLOSKIE. + AUGUSTUS REGINALD DUNSHUNNER, Esq. of St Mirrens. + SAMUEL SAWLEY, Esq., Merchant. + MHIC-MHAC-VICH-INDUIBH. + PHELIM O'FINLAN, Esq. of Castle-rook, Ireland. + THE CAPTAIN of M'ALCOHOL. + FACTOR for GLENTUMBLERS. + JOHN JOB JOBSON, Esq., Manufacturer. + EVAN M'CLAW of Glenscart and Inveryewky. + JOSEPH HECKLES, Esq. + HABBAKUK GRABBIE, Portioner in Ramoth-Drumclog. + + _Engineer_--WALTER SOLDER, Esq. + _Interim-Secretary_--ROBERT M'CORKINDALE, Esq. + + "The necessity of a direct line of Railway communication + through the fertile and populous district known as the + VALLEY of GLENMUTCHKIN, has been long felt and universally + acknowledged. Independently of the surpassing grandeur of + its mountain scenery, which shall immediately be referred + to, and other considerations of even greater importance, + GLENMUTCHKIN is known to the capitalist as the most + important BREEDING STATION in the Highlands of Scotland, and + indeed as the great emporium from which the southern markets + are supplied. It has been calculated by a most eminent + authority, that every acre in the strath is capable of + rearing twenty head of cattle; and, as has been ascertained + after a careful admeasurement, that there are not less than + TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND improvable acres immediately contiguous + to the proposed line of Railway, it may confidently be + assumed that the number of cattle to be conveyed along the + line will amount to FOUR MILLIONS annually, which, at the + lowest estimate, would yield a revenue larger, in proportion + to the capital subscribed, than that of any Railway as yet + completed within the United Kingdom. From this estimate the + traffic in Sheep and Goats, with which the mountains are + literally covered, has been carefully excluded, it having + been found quite impossible (from its extent) to compute the + actual revenue to be drawn from that most important branch. + It may, however, be roughly assumed as from seventeen to + nineteen per cent upon the whole, after deduction of the + working expenses. + + "The population of Glenmutchkin is extremely dense. Its + situation on the west coast has afforded it the means of + direct communication with America, of which for many years + the inhabitants have actively availed themselves. Indeed, + the amount of exportation of live stock from this part of + the Highlands to the Western continent, has more than once + attracted the attention of Parliament. The Manufactures + are large and comprehensive, and include the most famous + distilleries in the world. The Minerals are most abundant, + and amongst these may be reckoned quartz, porphyry, felspar, + malachite, manganese, and basalt. + + "At the foot of the valley, and close to the sea, lies the + important village known as the CLACHAN of INVERSTARVE. It is + supposed by various eminent antiquaries to have been the + capital of the Picts, and, amongst the busy inroads of + commercial prosperity, it still retains some interesting + traces of its former grandeur. There is a large fishing + station here, to which vessels from every nation resort, and + the demand for foreign produce is daily and steadily + increasing. + + "As a sporting country Glenmutchkin is unrivalled; but it + is by the tourists that its beauties will most greedily be + sought. These consist of every combination which plastic + nature can afford--cliffs of unusual magnitude and + grandeur--waterfalls only second to the sublime cascades of + Norway--woods, of which the bark is a remarkable valuable + commodity. It need scarcely be added, to rouse the + enthusiasm inseparable from this glorious glen, that here, + in 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, then in the zenith of + his hopes, was joined by the brave Sir Grugar M'Grugar at + the head of his devoted clan. + + "The Railway will be twelve miles long, and can be completed + within six months after the Act of Parliament is obtained. + The gradients are easy, and the curves obtuse. There are no + viaducts of any importance, and only four tunnels along the + whole length of the line. The shortest of these does not + exceed a mile and a half. + + "In conclusion, the projectors of this Railway beg to state + that they have determined, as a principle, to set their face + AGAINST ALL SUNDAY TRAVELLING WHATSOEVER, and to oppose + EVERY BILL which may hereafter be brought into Parliament, + unless it shall contain a clause to that effect. It is also + their intention to take up the cause of the poor and + neglected STOKER, for whose accommodation, and social, + moral, religious, and intellectual improvement, a large + stock of evangelical tracts will speedily be required. + Tenders of these, in quantities of not less than 12,000, may + be sent in to the Interim Secretary. Shares must be applied + for within ten days from the present date. + + "By order of the Provisional Committee, + "ROBT. M'CORKINDALE, _Secretary_." + +"There!" said Bob, slapping down the prospectus on the table, with as +much triumph as if it had been the original of Magna Charta--"What do +you think of that? If it doesn't do the business effectually, I shall +submit to be called a Dutchman. That last touch about the stoker will +bring us in the subscriptions of the old ladies by the score." + +"Very masterly, indeed," said I. "But who the deuce is +Mhic-Mhac-vich-Induibh?" + +"A _bona fide_ chief, I assure you, though a little reduced: I picked +him up upon the Broomielaw. His grandfather had an island somewhere to +the west of the Hebrides; but it is not laid down in the maps." + +"And the Captain of M'Alcohol?" + +"A crack distiller." + +"And the Factor for Glentumblers?" + +"His principal customer. But, bless you, my dear St Mirrens! don't +bother yourself any more about the committee. They are as respectable +a set--on paper at least--as you would wish to see of a summer's +morning, and the beauty of it is that they will give us no manner of +trouble. Now about the allocation. You and I must restrict ourselves +to a couple of thousand shares a-piece. That's only a third of the +whole, but it won't do to be greedy." + +"But, Bob, consider! Where on earth are we to find the money to pay up +the deposits?" + +"Can you, the principal director of the Glenmutchkin Railway, ask me, +the secretary, such a question? Don't you know that any of the banks +will give us tick to the amount 'of half the deposits.' All that is +settled already, and you can get your two thousand pounds whenever you +please merely for the signing of a bill. Sawley must get a thousand +according to stipulation--Jobson, Heckles, and Grabbie, at least five +hundred a-piece, and another five hundred, I should think, will +exhaust the remaining means of the committee. So that, out of our +whole stock, there remain just five thousand shares to be allocated to +the speculative and evangelical public. My eyes! won't there be a +scramble for them!" + +Next day our prospectus appeared in the newspapers. It was read, +canvassed, and generally approved of. During the afternoon, I took an +opportunity of looking into the Tontine, and whilst under shelter of +the _Glasgow Herald_, my ears were solaced with such ejaculations as +the following:-- + +"I say, Jimsy, hae ye seen this grand new prospectus for a railway tae +Glenmutchkin?" + +"Ay--it looks no that ill. The Hieland lairds are pitting their best +fit foremost. Will ye apply for shares?" + +"I think I'll tak' twa hundred. Wha's Sir Polloxfen Tremens?" + +"He'll be yin o' the Ayrshire folk. He used to rin horses at the +Paisley races." + +("The devil he did!" thought I.) + +"D'ye ken ony o' the directors, Jimsy?" + +"I ken Sawley fine. Ye may depend on't, it's a gude thing if he's +in't, for he's a howkin' body." + +"Then it's sure to gae up. What prem. d'ye think it will bring?" + +"Twa pund a share, and maybe mair." + +"'Od, I'll apply for three hundred!" + +"Heaven bless you, my dear countrymen!" thought I as I sallied forth +to refresh myself with a basin of soup, "do but maintain this liberal +and patriotic feeling--this thirst for national improvement, internal +communication, and premiums--a short while longer, and I know whose +fortune will be made." + +On the following morning my breakfast-table was covered with shoals of +letters, from fellows whom I scarcely ever had spoken to--or who, to +use a franker phraseology, had scarcely ever condescended to speak to +me--entreating my influence as a director to obtain them shares in the +new undertaking. I never bore malice in my life, so I chalked them +down, without favouritism, for a certain proportion. Whilst engaged in +this charitable work, the door flew open, and M'Corkindale, looking +utterly haggard with excitement, rushed in. + +"You may buy an estate whenever you please, Dunshunner," cried he, +"the world's gone perfectly mad! I have been to Blazes the broker, and +he tells me that the whole amount of the stock has been subscribed for +four times over already, and he has not yet got in the returns from +Edinburgh and Liverpool!" + +"Are they good names though, Bob--sure cards--none of your M'Closkies, +and M'Alcohols?" + +"The first names in the city, I assure you, and most of them holders +for investment. I wouldn't take ten millions for their capital." + +"Then the sooner we close the list the better." + +"I think so too. I suspect a rival company will be out before long. +Blazes says the shares are selling already conditionally on allotment, +at seven-and-sixpence premium." + +"The deuce they are! I say, Bob, since we have the cards in our hands, +would it not be wise to favour them with a few hundreds at that rate? +A bird in the hand, you know, is worth two in the bush, eh?" + +"I know no such maxim in political economy," replied the secretary. +"Are you mad, Dunshunner? How are the shares ever to go up, if it gets +wind that the directors are selling already? Our business just now, is +to _bull_ the line, not to _bear_ it; and if you will trust me, I +shall show them such an operation on the ascending scale, as the Stock +Exchange has not witnessed for this long and many a day. Then, +to-morrow, I shall advertise in the papers that the committee, having +received applications for ten times the amount of stock, have been +compelled, unwillingly, to close the lists. That will be a slap in the +face to the dilatory gentlemen, and send up the shares like wildfire." + +Bob was right. No sooner did the advertisement appear, than a +simultaneous groan was uttered by some hundreds of disappointed +speculators, who with unwonted and unnecessary caution had been +anxious to see their way a little before committing themselves to our +splendid enterprise. In consequence, they rushed into the market, with +intense anxiety to make what terms they could at the earliest stage, +and the seven-and-sixpence of premium was doubled in the course of a +forenoon. + +The allocation passed over very peaceably. Sawley, Heckles, Jobson, +Grabbie, and the Captain of M'Alcohol, besides myself, attended, and +took part in the business. We were also threatened with the presence +of the M'Closkie and Vich-Induibh; but M'Corkindale, entertaining some +reasonable doubts as to the effect which their corporeal appearance +might have upon the representatives of the dissenting interest, had +taken the precaution to get them snugly housed in a tavern, where an +unbounded supply of gratuitous Ferintosh deprived us of the benefit of +their experience. We, however, allotted them twenty shares a-piece. +Sir Polloxfen Tremens sent a handsome, though rather illegible letter +of apology, dated from an island in Lochlomond, where he was said to +be detained on particular business. + +Mr Sawley, who officiated as our chairman, was kind enough, before +parting, to pass a very flattering eulogium upon the excellence and +candour of all the preliminary arrangements. It would now, he said, +go forth to the public that this line was not, like some others he +could mention, a mere bubble, emanating from the stank of private +interest, but a solid, lasting superstructure, based upon the +principles of sound return for capital, and serious evangelical truth +(hear, hear). The time was fast approaching, when the gravestone, with +the words "HIC OBIIT" chiselled upon it, would be placed at the head +of all the other lines which rejected the grand opportunity of +conveying education to the stoker. The stoker, in his (Mr Sawley's) +opinion, had a right to ask the all-important question, "Am I not a +man and a brother?" (Cheers). Much had been said and written lately +about a work called _Tracts for the Times_. With the opinions +contained in that publication he was not conversant, as it was +conducted by persons of another community from that to which he (Mr +Sawley) had the privilege to belong. But he hoped very soon, under the +auspices of the Glenmutchkin Railway Company, to see a new periodical +established, under the title of _Tracts for the Trains_. He never for +a moment would relax his efforts to knock a nail into the coffin, +which, he might say, was already made, and measured, and cloth-covered +for the reception of all establishments; and with these sentiments, +and the conviction that the shares must rise, could it be doubted that +he would remain a fast friend to the interests of this Company for +ever? (Much cheering.) + +After having delivered this address, Mr Sawley affectionately squeezed +the hands of his brother directors, and departed, leaving several of +us much overcome. As, however, M'Corkindale had told me that every +one of Sawley's shares had been disposed of in the market the day +before, I felt less compunction at having refused to allow that +excellent man an extra thousand beyond the amount he had applied for, +notwithstanding of his broadest hints, and even private entreaties. + +"Confound the greedy hypocrite!" said Bob; "does he think we shall let +him Burke the line for nothing? No--no! I let him go to the brokers +and buy his shares back, if he thinks they are likely to rise. I'll be +bound he has made a cool five hundred out of them already." + +On the day which succeeded the allocation, the following entry +appeared in the Glasgow share-lists. "Direct Glenmutchkin Railway 15s. +15s. 6d. 15s. 6d. 16s. 15s. 6d. 16s. 16s. 6d. 16s. 6d. 16s. 17s. 18s. +18s. 19s. 6d. 21s. 21s. 22s. 6d. 24s. 25s. 6d. 27s. 29s. 29s. 6d. 30s. +31s. pm." + +"They might go higher, and they ought to go higher," said Bob +musingly; "but there's not much more stock to come and go upon, and +these two share-sharks, Jobson and Grabbie, I know, will be in the +market to-morrow. We must not let them have the whip-hand of us. I +think upon the whole, Dunshunner, though it's letting them go dog +cheap, that we ought to sell half our shares at the present premium, +whilst there is a certainty of getting it." + +"Why not sell the whole? I'm sure I have no objections to part with +every stiver of the scrip on such terms." + +"Perhaps," said Bob, "upon general principles you may be right; but +then remember that we have a vested interest in the line." + +"Vested interest be hanged!" + +"That's very well--at the same time it is no use to kill your salmon +in a hurry. The bulls have done their work pretty well for us, and we +ought to keep something on hand for the bears; they are snuffing at it +already. I could almost swear that some of those fellows who have sold +to-day are working for a time-bargain." + +We accordingly got rid of a couple of thousand shares, the proceeds of +which not only enabled us to discharge the deposit loan, but left us a +material surplus. Under these circumstances, a two-handed banquet was +proposed and unanimously carried, the commencement of which I +distinctly remember, but am rather dubious as to the end. So many +stories have lately been circulated to the prejudice of railway +directors, that I think it my duty to state that this entertainment +was scrupulously defrayed by ourselves, and _not_ carried to account, +either of the preliminary survey, or the expenses of the provisional +committee. + +Nothing effects so great a metamorphosis in the bearing of the outer +man, as a sudden change of fortune. The anemone of the garden differs +scarcely more from its unpretending prototype of the woods, than +Robert M'Corkindale, Esq., Secretary and Projector of the Glenmutchkin +Railway, differed from Bob M'Corkindale, the seedy frequenter of "The +Crow." In the days of yore, men eyed the surtout--napless at the +velvet collar, and preternaturally white at the seams--which Bob +vouchsafed to wear, with looks of dim suspicion, as if some faint +reminiscence, similar to that which is said to recall the memory of a +former state of existence, suggested to them a notion that the garment +had once been their own. Indeed, his whole appearance was then +wonderfully second-hand. Now he had cast his slough. A most undeniable +Taglioni, with trimmings just bordering upon frogs, gave dignity to +his demeanour and twofold amplitude to his chest. The horn eyeglass +was exchanged for one of purest gold, the dingy high-lows for +well-waxed Wellingtons, the Paisley fogle for the fabric of the China +loom. Moreover, he walked with a swagger, and affected in common +conversation a peculiar dialect which he opined to be the purest +English, but which no one--except a bagman--could be reasonably +expected to understand. His pockets were invariably crammed with +share-lists; and he quoted, if he did not comprehend, the money +article from the _Times_. This sort of assumption, though very +ludicrous in itself, goes down wonderfully. Bob gradually became a +sort of authority, and his opinions got quoted on 'Change. He was no +ass, notwithstanding his peculiarities, and made good use of his +opportunity. + +For myself, I bore my new dignities with an air of modest meekness. A +certain degree of starchness is indispensable for a railway director, +if he means to go forward in his high calling and prosper; he must +abandon all juvenile eccentricities, and aim at the appearance of a +decided enemy to free trade in the article of Wild Oats. Accordingly, +as the first step towards respectability, I eschewed coloured +waistcoats, and gave out that I was a marrying man. No man under +forty, unless he is a positive idiot, will stand forth as a XXXX +theoretical bachelor. It is all nonsense to say that there is anything +unpleasant in being courted. Attention, whether from male or female, +tickles the vanity; and although I have a reasonable, and, I hope, not +unwholesome regard for the gratification of my other appetites, I +confess that this same vanity is by far the most poignant of the +whole. I therefore surrendered myself freely to the soft allurements +thrown in my way by such matronly denizens of Glasgow as were +possessed of stock in the shape of marriageable daughters; and walked +the more readily into their toils, because every party, though +nominally for the purposes of tea, wound up with a hot supper, and +something hotter still by way of assisting the digestion. + +I don't know whether it was my determined conduct at the allocation, +my territorial title, or a most exaggerated idea of my circumstances, +that worked upon the mind of Mr Sawley. Possibly it was a combination +of the three; but sure enough few days had elapsed before I received a +formal card of invitation to a tea and serious conversation. Now +serious conversation is a sort of thing that I never shone in, +possibly because my early studies were framed in a different +direction; but as I really was unwilling to offend the respectable +coffin-maker, and as I found that the Captain of M'Alcohol--a decided +trump in his way--had also received a summons, I notified my +acceptance. + +M'Alcohol and I went together. The Captain, an enormous brawny Celt, +with superhuman whiskers, and a shock of the fieriest hair, had figged +himself out, _more majorum_, in the full Highland costume. I never saw +Rob Roy on the stage look half so dignified or ferocious. He glittered +from head to foot, with dirk, pistol, and skean-dhu, and at least a +hundred-weight of cairngorms cast a prismatic glory around his person. +I felt quite abashed beside him. + +We were ushered into Mr Sawley's drawing-room. Round the walls, and at +considerable distances from each other, were seated about a dozen +characters, male and female, all of them dressed in sable, and wearing +countenances of woe. Sawley advanced, and wrung me by the hand with so +piteous an expression of visage, that I could not help thinking some +awful catastrophe had just befallen his family. + +"You are welcome, Mr Dunshunner--welcome to my humble tabernacle. Let +me present you to Mrs Sawley"--and a lady, who seemed to have bathed +in the Yellow Sea, rose from her seat, and favoured me with a profound +curtsy. + +"My daughter--Miss Selina Sawley." + +I felt in my brain the scorching glance of the two darkest eyes it +ever was my fortune to behold, as the beauteous Selina looked up from +the perusal of her handkerchief hem. It was a pity that the other +features were not corresponding; for the nose was flat, and the mouth +of such dimensions, that a Harlequin might have jumped down it with +impunity--but the eyes _were_ splendid. + +In obedience to a sign from the hostess, I sank into a chair beside +Selina; and not knowing exactly what to say, hazarded some observation +about the weather. + +"Yes, it is indeed a suggestive season. How deeply, Mr Dunshunner, we +ought to feel the pensive progress of autumn towards a soft and +premature decay! I always think, about this time of the year, that +nature is falling into a consumption!" + +"To be sure, ma'am," said I, rather taken aback by this style of +colloquy, "the trees are looking devilishly hectic." + +"Ah, you have remarked that too! Strange! it was but yesterday that I +was wandering through Kelvin Grove, and as the phantom breeze brought +down the withered foliage from the spray, I thought how probable it +was that they might ere long rustle over young and glowing hearts +deposited prematurely in the tomb!" + +This, which struck me as a very passable imitation of Dickens's +pathetic writings, was a poser. In default of language, I looked Miss +Sawley straight in the face, and attempted a substitute for a sigh. I +was rewarded with a tender glance. + +"Ah!" said she, "I see you are a congenial spirit. How delightful, and +yet how rare it is to meet with any one who thinks in unison with +yourself! Do you ever walk in the Necropolis, Mr Dunshunner? It is my +favourite haunt of a morning. There we can wean ourselves, as it were, +from life, and, beneath the melancholy yew and cypress, anticipate the +setting star. How often there have I seen the procession--the funeral +of some very, very little child"---- + +"Selina, my love," said Mrs Sawley, "have the kindness to ring for the +cookies." + +I, as in duty bound, started up to save the fair enthusiast the +trouble, and was not sorry to observe my seat immediately occupied by +a very cadaverous gentleman, who was evidently jealous of the progress +I was rapidly making. Sawley, with an air of great mystery, informed +me that this was a Mr Dalgleish of Raxmathrapple, the representative +of an ancient Scottish family who claimed an important heritable +office. The name, I thought, was familiar to me, but there was +something in the appearance of Mr Dalgleish which, notwithstanding the +smiles of Miss Selina, rendered a rivalship in that quarter utterly +out of the question. + +I hate injustice, so let me do due honour in description to the Sawley +banquet. The tea-urn most literally corresponded to its name. The +table was decked out with divers platters, containing seed-cakes cut +into rhomboids, almond biscuits, and ratafia drops. Also, on the +sideboard, there were two salvers, each of which contained a +congregation of glasses, filled with port and sherry. The former +fluid, as I afterwards ascertained, was of the kind advertised as +"curious," and proffered for sale at the reasonable rate of sixteen +shillings per dozen. The banquet, on the whole, was rather peculiar +than enticing; and, for the life of me, I could not divest myself of +the idea that the selfsame viands had figured, not long before, as +funeral refreshments at a dirgie. No such suspicion seemed to cross +the mind of M'Alcohol, who hitherto had remained uneasily surveying +his nails in a corner, but at the first symptom of food started +forwards, and was in the act of making a clean sweep of the china, +when Sawley proposed the singular preliminary of a hymn. + +The hymn was accordingly sung. I am thankful to say it was such a +one as I never heard before, or expect to hear again; and unless +it was composed by the Reverend Saunders Peden in an hour of paroxysm +on the moors, I cannot conjecture the author. After this original +symphony, tea was discussed, and after tea, to my amazement, more hot +brandy-and-water than I ever remember to have seen circulated at the +most convivial party. Of course this effected a radical change in the +spirits and conversation of the circle. It was again my lot to be +placed by the side of the fascinating Selina, whose sentimentality +gradually thawed away beneath the influence of sundry sips, which +she accepted with a delicate reluctance. This time Dalgleish of +Raxmathrapple had not the remotest chance. M'Alcohol got furious, sang +Gaelic songs, and even delivered a sermon in genuine Erse, without +incurring a rebuke; whilst, for my own part, I must needs confess that +I waxed unnecessarily amorous, and the last thing I recollect was the +pressure of Mr Sawley's hand at the door, as he denominated me his +dear boy, and hoped I would soon come back and visit Mrs Sawley and +Selina. The recollection of these passages next morning was the surest +antidote to my return. + +Three weeks had elapsed, and still the Glenmutchkin Railway shares +were at a premium, though rather lower than when we sold. Our +engineer, Watty Solder, returned from his first survey of the line, +along with an assistant who really appeared to have some remote +glimmerings of the science and practice of mensuration. It seemed, +from a verbal report, that the line was actually practicable; and the +survey would have been completed in a very short time--"If," according +to the account of Solder, "there had been ae hoos in the glen. But +ever sin' the distillery stoppit--and that was twa year last +Martinmas--there wasna a hole whaur a Christian could lay his head, +muckle less get white sugar to his toddy, forbye the change-house at +the clachan; and the auld luckie that keepit it was sair forfochten +wi' the palsy, and maist in the dead-thraws. There was naebody else +living within twal miles o' the line, barring a taxman, a lamiter, +and a bauldie." + +We had some difficulty in preventing Mr Solder from making this report +open and patent to the public, which premature disclosure might have +interfered materially with the preparation of our traffic tables, not +to mention the marketable value of the shares. We therefore kept him +steadily at work out of Glasgow, upon a very liberal allowance, to +which, apparently, he did not object. + +"Dunshunner," said M'Corkindale to me one day, "I suspect that there +is something going on about our railway more than we are aware of. +Have you observed that the shares are preternaturally high just now?" + +"So much the better. Let's sell." + +"I did so this morning--both yours and mine, at two pounds ten +shillings premium." + +"The deuce you did! Then we're out of the whole concern." + +"Not quite. If my suspicions are correct, there's a good deal more +money yet to be got from the speculation. Somebody has been bulling +the stock without orders; and, as they can have no information which +we are not perfectly up to, depend upon it, it is done for a purpose. +I suspect Sawley and his friends. They have never been quite happy +since the allocation; and I caught him yesterday pumping our broker in +the back shop. We'll see in a day or two. If they are beginning a +bearing operation, I know how to catch them." + +And, in effect, the bearing operation commenced. Next day, heavy +sales were effected for delivery in three weeks; and the stock, +as if water-logged, began to sink. The same thing continued for the +following two days, until the premium became nearly nominal. In the +mean time, Bob and I, in conjunction with two leading capitalists +whom we let into the secret, bought up steadily every share that was +offered; and at the end of a fortnight we found that we had purchased +rather more than double the amount of the whole original stock. Sawley +and his disciples, who, as M'Corkindale suspected, were at the bottom +of the whole transaction, having beared to their heart's content, +now came into the market to purchase, in order to redeem their +engagements. The following extracts from the weekly share-lists will +show the result of their endeavours to regain their lost position:-- + + Sat. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Frid. Sat. + + GLENMUTCHKIN + RAIL., L1 paid, 1-1/8 | 2-1/4 | 4-3/8 | 7-1/2 | 10-3/4 | 15-3/8 | 17, + +and Monday was the day of delivery. + +I have no means of knowing in what frame of mind Mr Sawley spent the +Sunday, or whether he had recourse for mental consolation to Peden; +but on Monday morning he presented himself at my door in full funeral +costume, with about a quarter of a mile of crape swathed round his +hat, black gloves, and a countenance infinitely more doleful than if +he had been attending the interment of his beloved wife. + +"Walk in, Mr Sawley," said I cheerfully. "What a long time it is since +I have had the pleasure of seeing you--too long indeed for brother +directors. How are Mrs Sawley and Miss Selina--won't you take a cup of +coffee?" + +"Grass, sir, grass!" said Mr Sawley, with a sigh like the groan of a +furnace-bellows. "We are all flowers of the oven--weak, erring +creatures, every one of us. Ah! Mr Dunshunner! you have been a great +stranger at Lykewake Terrace!" + +"Take a muffin, Mr Sawley. Anything new in the railway world?" + +"Ah, my dear sir--my good Mr Augustus Reginald--I wanted to have some +serious conversation with you on that very point. I am afraid there is +something far wrong indeed in the present state of our stock." + +"Why, to be sure it is high; but that, you know, is a token of the +public confidence in the line. After all, the rise is nothing compared +to that of several English railways; and individually, I suppose, +neither of us have any reason to complain." + +"I don't like it," said Sawley, watching me over the margin of his +coffee-cup. "I don't like it. It savours too much of gambling for a +man of my habits. Selina, who is a sensible girl, has serious qualms +on the subject." + +"Then why not get out of it? I have no objection to run the risk, and +if you like to transact with me, I will pay you ready money for every +share you have at the present market price." + +Sawley writhed uneasily in his chair. + +"Will you sell me five hundred, Mr Sawley? Say the word and it is a +bargain." + +"A time bargain?" quavered the coffin-maker. + +"No. Money down, and scrip handed over." + +"I--I can't. The fact is, my dear young friend, I have sold all my +stock already!" + +"Then permit me to ask, Mr Sawley, what possible objection you can +have to the present aspect of affairs? You do not surely suppose that +we are going to issue new shares and bring down the market, simply +because you have realised at a handsome premium?" + +"A handsome premium! O Lord!" moaned Sawley. + +"Why, what did you get for them?" + +"Four, three, and two and a half." + +"A very considerable profit indeed," said I; "and you ought to be +abundantly thankful. We shall talk this matter over at another time, +Mr Sawley, but just now I must beg you to excuse me. I have a +particular engagement this morning with my broker--rather a heavy +transaction to settle--and so"---- + +"It's no use beating about the bush any longer," said Mr Sawley in an +excited tone, at the same time dashing down his crape-covered castor +on the floor. "Did you ever see a ruined man with a large family? Look +at me, Mr Dunshunner--I'm one, and you've done it!" + +"Mr Sawley! are you in your senses?" + +"That depends on circumstances. Haven't you been buying stock lately?" + +"I am glad to say I have--two thousand Glenmutchkins, I think, and +this is the day of delivery." + +"Well, then--can't you see how the matter stands? It was I who sold +them!" + +"Well!" + +"Mother of Moses, sir! don't you see I'm ruined?" + +"By no means--but you must not swear. I pay over the money for your +scrip, and you pocket a premium. It seems to me a very simple +transaction." + +"But I tell you I haven't got the scrip!" cried Sawley, gnashing his +teeth, whilst the cold beads of perspiration gathered largely on his +brow. + +"That is very unfortunate! Have you lost it?" + +"No!--the devil tempted me, and I oversold!" + +There was a very long pause, during which I assumed an aspect of +serious and dignified rebuke. + +"Is it possible?" said I in a low tone, after the manner of Kean's +offended fathers. "What! you, Mr Sawley--the stoker's friend--the +enemy of gambling--the father of Selina--condescend to so equivocal a +transaction? You amaze me! But I never was the man to press heavily on +a friend"--here Sawley brightened up--"your secret is safe with me, +and it shall be your own fault if it reaches the ears of the Session. +Pay me over the difference at the present market price, and I release +you of your obligation." + +"Then I'm in the Gazette, that's all," said Sawley doggedly, "and a +wife and nine beautiful babes upon the parish! I had hoped other +things from you, Mr Dunshunner--I thought you and Selina"-- + +"Nonsense, man! Nobody goes into the Gazette just now--it will be time +enough when the general crash comes. Out with your cheque-book, and +write me an order for four-and-twenty thousand. Confound fractions! in +these days one can afford to be liberal." + +"I haven't got it," said Sawley. "You have no idea how bad our trade +has been of late, for nobody seems to think of dying. I have not sold +a gross of coffins this fortnight. But I'll tell you what--I'll give +you five thousand down in cash, and ten thousand in shares--further I +can't go." + +"Now, Mr Sawley," said I, "I may be blamed by worldly-minded persons +for what I am going to do; but I am a man of principle, and feel +deeply for the situation of your amiable wife and family. I bear no +malice, though it is quite clear that you intended to make me the +sufferer. Pay me fifteen thousand over the counter, and we cry quits +for ever." + +"Won't you take Camlachie Cemetery shares? They are sure to go up." + +"No!" + +"Twelve Hundred Cowcaddens' Water, with an issue of new stock next +week?" + +"Not if they disseminated the Ganges!" + +"A thousand Ramshorn Gas--four per cent guaranteed until the act?" + +"Not if they promised twenty, and melted down the sun in their +retort!" + +"Blawweary Iron? Best spec. going." + +"No, I tell you once for all! If you don't like my offer--and it is an +uncommonly liberal one--say so, and I'll expose you this afternoon +upon 'Change." + +"Well, then--there's a cheque. But may the"---- + +"Stop, sir! Any such profane expressions, and I shall insist upon the +original bargain. So, then--now we're quits. I wish you a very +good-morning, Mr Sawley, and better luck next time. Pray remember me +to your amiable family." + +The door had hardly closed upon the discomfited coffin-maker, and I +was still in the preliminary steps of an extempore _pas seul_, +intended as the outward demonstration of exceeding inward joy, when +Bob M'Corkindale entered. I told him the result of the morning's +conference. + +"You have let him off too easily," said the Political Economist. "Had +I been his creditor, I certainly should have sacked the shares into +the bargain. There is nothing like rigid dealing between man and man." + +"I am contented with moderate profits," said I; "besides, the image of +Selina overcame me. How goes it with Jobson and Grabbie?" + +"Jobson has paid, and Grabbie compounded. Heckles--may he die an evil +death!--has repudiated, become a lame duck, and waddled; but no doubt +his estate will pay a dividend." + +"So, then, we are clear of the whole Glenmutchkin business, and at a +handsome profit." + +"A fair interest for the outlay of capital--nothing more. But I'm not +quite done with the concern yet." + +"How so? not another bearing operation?" + +"No; that cock would hardly fight. But you forget that I am secretary +to the company, and have a small account against them for services +already rendered. I must do what I can to carry the bill through +Parliament; and, as you have now sold your whole shares, I advise you +to resign from the direction, go down straight to Glenmutchkin, and +qualify yourself for a witness. We shall give you five guineas a-day, +and pay all your expenses." + +"Not a bad notion. But what has become of M'Closkie, and the other +fellow with the jaw-breaking name?" + +"Vich-Induibh? I have looked after their interests, as in duty bound, +sold their shares at a large premium, and despatched them to their +native hills on annuities." + +"And Sir Polloxfen?" + +"Died yesterday of spontaneous combustion." + +As the company seemed breaking up, I thought I could not do better +than take M'Corkindale's hint, and accordingly betook myself to +Glenmutchkin, along with the Captain of M'Alcohol, and we quartered +ourselves upon the Factor for Glentumblers. We found Watty Solder very +shakey, and his assistant also lapsing into habits of painful +inebriety. We saw little of them except of an evening, for we shot and +fished the whole day, and made ourselves remarkably comfortable. By +singular good-luck, the plans and sections were lodged in time, and +the Board of Trade very handsomely reported in our favour, with a +recommendation of what they were pleased to call "the Glenmutchkin +system," and a hope that it might generally be carried out. What this +system was, I never clearly understood; but, of course, none of us had +any objections. This circumstance gave an additional impetus to the +shares, and they once more went up. I was, however, too cautious to +plunge a second time into Charybdis, but M'Corkindale did, and again +emerged with plunder. + +When the time came for the parliamentary contest, we all emigrated to +London. I still recollect, with lively satisfaction, the many pleasant +days we spent in the metropolis at the company's expense. There were +just a neat fifty of us, and we occupied the whole of an hotel. The +discussion before the committee was long and formidable. We were +opposed by four other companies who patronised lines, of which the +nearest was at least a hundred miles distant from Glenmutchkin; but as +they founded their opposition upon dissent from "the Glenmutchkin +system" generally, the committee allowed them to be heard. We fought +for three weeks a most desperate battle, and might in the end have +been victorious, had not our last antagonist, at the very close of his +case, pointed out no less than seventy-three fatal errors in the +parliamentary plan deposited by the unfortunate Solder. Why this was +not done earlier, I never exactly understood; it may be, that our +opponents, with gentlemanly consideration, were unwilling to curtail +our sojourn in London--and their own. The drama was now finally +closed, and after all preliminary expenses were paid, sixpence per +share was returned to the holders upon surrender of their scrip. + +Such is an accurate history of the Origin, Rise, Progress, and Fall of +the Direct Glenmutchkin Railway. It contains a deep moral, if anybody +has sense enough to see it; if not, I have a new project in my eye for +next session, of which timely notice shall be given. + + + + + VANDERDECKEN'S MESSAGE HOME; + OR, THE TENACITY OF NATURAL AFFECTION. + +[_MAGA._ MAY 1821.] + + +Our ship, after touching at the Cape, went out again, and soon losing +sight of the Table Mountain, began to be assailed by the impetuous +attacks of the sea, which is well known to be more formidable there +than in most parts of the known ocean. The day had grown dull and +hazy, and the breeze, which had formerly blown fresh, now sometimes +subsided almost entirely, and then recovering its strength, for a +short time, and changing its direction, blew with temporary violence, +and died away again, as if exercising a melancholy caprice. A heavy +swell began to come from the south-east. Our sails flapped against the +masts, and the ship rolled from side to side, as heavily as if she had +been water-logged. There was so little wind that she would not steer. + +At two P.M. we had a squall, accompanied by thunder and rain. The +seamen, growing restless, looked anxiously ahead. They said we would +have a dirty night of it, and that it would not be worth while to +turn into their hammocks. As the second mate was describing a gale he +had encountered off Cape Race, Newfoundland, we were suddenly taken +all aback, and the blast came upon us furiously. We continued to scud +under a double-reefed mainsail and fore-topsail till dusk; but, as the +sea ran high, the captain thought it safest to bring her to. The watch +on deck consisted of four men, one of whom was appointed to keep a +look-out ahead, for the weather was so hazy that we could not see two +cables' length from the bows. This man, whose name was Tom Willis, +went frequently to the bows, as if to observe something; and when the +others called to him, inquiring what he was looking at, he would give +no definite answer. They therefore went also to the bows, and appeared +startled, and at first said nothing. But presently one of them cried, +"William, go call the watch." + +The seamen, having been asleep in their hammocks, murmured at this +unseasonable summons, and called to know how it looked upon deck. To +which Tom Willis replied, "Come up and see. What we are minding is not +on deck, but ahead." + +On hearing this, they ran up without putting on their jackets, and +when they came to the bows there was a whispering. + +One of them asked, "Where is she? I do not see her." To which another +replied, "The last flash of lightning showed there was not a reef in +one of her sails; but we, who know her history, know that all her +canvass will never carry her into port." + +By this time, the talking of the seamen had brought some of the +passengers on deck. They could see nothing, however, for the ship was +surrounded by thick darkness, and by the noise of the dashing waters, +and the seamen evaded the questions that were put to them. + +At this juncture the chaplain came on deck. He was a man of grave and +modest demeanour, and was much liked among the seamen, who called him +Gentle George. He overheard one of the men asking another, "If he had +ever seen the Flying Dutchman before, and if he knew the story about +her?" To which the other replied, "I have heard of her beating about +in these seas. What is the reason she never reaches port?" + +The first speaker replied, "They give different reasons for it, but my +story is this: She was an Amsterdam vessel, and sailed from that port +seventy years ago. Her master's name was Vanderdecken. He was a stanch +seaman, and would have his own way, in spite of the devil. For all +that, never a sailor under him had reason to complain; though how it +is on board with them now, nobody knows;--the story is this, that in +doubling the Cape, they were a long day trying to weather the Table +Bay, which we saw this morning. However, the wind headed them, and +went against them more and more, and Vanderdecken walked the deck, +swearing at the wind. Just after sunset, a vessel spoke him, asking if +he did not mean to go into the bay that night. Vanderdecken replied, +'May I be eternally d--d if I do, though I should beat about here till +the day of judgment!' And to be sure, Vanderdecken never did go into +that bay; for it is believed that he continues to beat about in these +seas still, and will do so long enough. This vessel is never seen but +with foul weather along with her." + +To which another replied, "We must keep clear of her. They say that +her captain mans his jolly boat, when a vessel comes in sight, and +tries hard to get alongside, to put letters on board, but no good +comes to them who have communication with him." + +Tom Willis said, "There is such a sea between us at present, as should +keep us safe from such visits." + +To which the other answered: "We cannot trust to that, if Vanderdecken +sends out his men." + +Some of this conversation having been overheard by the passengers, +there was a commotion among them. In the mean time, the noise of the +waves against the vessel could scarcely be distinguished from the +sounds of the distant thunder. The wind had extinguished the light in +the binnacle, where the compass was, and no one could tell which way +the ship's head lay. The passengers were afraid to ask questions, +lest they should augment the secret sensation of fear which chilled +every heart, or learn any more than they already knew. For while they +attributed their agitation of mind to the state of the weather, it was +sufficiently perceptible that their alarms also arose from a cause +which they did not acknowledge. + +The lamp at the binnacle being relighted, they perceived that the ship +lay closer to the wind than she had hitherto done, and the spirits of +the passengers were somewhat revived. + +Nevertheless, neither the tempestuous state of the atmosphere nor the +thunder had ceased, and soon a vivid flash of lightning showed the +waves tumbling around us, and, in the distance, the Flying Dutchman +scudding furiously before the wind, under a press of canvass. The +sight was but momentary, but it was sufficient to remove all doubt +from the minds of the passengers. One of the men cried aloud, "There +she goes, topgallants and all." + +The chaplain had brought up his prayer-book, in order that he might +draw from thence something to fortify and tranquillise the minds of +the rest. Therefore, taking his seat near the binnacle, so that the +light shone upon the white leaves of the book, he, in a solemn tone, +read out the service for those distressed at sea. The sailors stood +round with folded arms, and looked as if they thought it would be of +little use. But this served to occupy the attention of those on deck +for a while. + +In the mean time the flashes of lightning, becoming less vivid, showed +nothing else, far or near, but the billows weltering round the vessel. +The sailors seemed to think that they had not yet seen the worst, but +confined their remarks and prognostications to their own circle. + +At this time, the captain, who had hitherto remained in his berth, +came on deck, and, with a gay and unconcerned air, inquired what was +the cause of the general dread. He said he thought they had already +seen the worst of the weather, and wondered that his men had raised +such a hubbub about a capful of wind. Mention being made of the Flying +Dutchman, the captain laughed. He said, "he would like very much to +see any vessel carrying topgallant-sails in such a night, for it would +be a sight worth looking at." The chaplain, taking him by one of the +buttons of his coat, drew him aside, and appeared to enter into +serious conversation with him. + +While they were talking together, the captain was heard to say, "Let +us look to our own ship, and not mind such things;" and accordingly, +he sent a man aloft, to see if all was right about the fore-topsail +yard, which was chafing the mast with a loud noise. + +It was Tom Willis who went up; and when he came down, he said that all +was tight, and that he hoped it would soon get clearer; and that they +would see no more of what they were most afraid of. + +The captain and first mate were heard laughing loudly together, while +the chaplain observed, that it would be better to repress such +unseasonable gaiety. The second mate, a native of Scotland, whose name +was Duncan Saunderson, having attended one of the University classes +at Aberdeen, thought himself too wise to believe all that the sailors +said, and took part with the captain. He jestingly told Tom Willis to +borrow his grandam's spectacles the next time he was sent to keep a +look-out ahead. Tom walked sulkily away, muttering, that he would +nevertheless trust to his own eyes till morning, and accordingly took +his station at the bow, and appeared to watch as attentively as +before. + +The sound of talking soon ceased, for many returned to their berths, +and we heard nothing but the clanking of the ropes upon the masts, and +the bursting of the billows ahead, as the vessel successively took the +seas. + +But after a considerable interval of darkness, gleams of lightning +began to reappear. Tom Willis suddenly called out, "Vanderdecken, +again! Vanderdecken, again! I see them letting down a boat." + +All who were on deck ran to the bows. The next flash of lightning +shone far and wide over the raging sea, and showed us not only the +Flying Dutchman at a distance, but also a boat coming from her with +four men. The boat was within two cables' length of our ship's side. + +The man who first saw her ran to the captain, and asked whether they +should hail her or not. The captain, walking about in great agitation, +made no reply. The first mate cried, "Who's going to heave a rope to +that boat?" The men looked at each other without offering to do +anything. The boat had come very near the chains, when Tom Willis +called out, "What do you want? or what devil has blown you here in +such weather?" A piercing voice from the boat replied in English, "We +want to speak with your captain." The captain took no notice of this, +and Vanderdecken's boat having come close alongside, one of the men +came upon deck, and appeared like a fatigued and weatherbeaten seaman, +holding some letters in his hand. + +Our sailors all drew back. The chaplain, however, looking steadfastly +upon him, went forward a few steps, and asked, "What is the purpose of +this visit?" + +The stranger replied, "We have long been kept here by foul weather, +and Vanderdecken wishes to send these letters to his friends in +Europe." + +Our captain now came forward, and said as firmly as he could, "I wish +Vanderdecken would put his letters on board of any other vessel +rather than mine." + +The stranger replied, "We have tried many a ship, but most of them +refuse our letters." + +Upon which, Tom Willis muttered, "It will be best for us if we do the +same, for they say there is sometimes a sinking weight in your paper." + +The stranger took no notice of this, but asked where we were from. On +being told that we were from Portsmouth, he said, as if with strong +feeling, "Would that you had rather been from Amsterdam. Oh that we +saw it again!--We must see our friends again." When he uttered these +words, the men who were in the boat below wrung their hands, and cried +in a piercing tone, in Dutch, "Oh that we saw it again! We have been +long here beating about: but we must see our friends again." + +The chaplain asked the stranger, "How long have you been at sea?" + +He replied, "We have lost our count; for our almanac was blown +overboard. Our ship, you see, is there still; so why should you ask +how long we have been at sea; for Vanderdecken only wishes to write +home and comfort his friends." + +To which the chaplain replied, "Your letters, I fear, would be of no +use in Amsterdam, even if they were delivered, for the persons to whom +they are addressed are probably no longer to be found there, except +under very ancient green turf in the churchyard." + +The unwelcome stranger then wrung his hands and appeared to weep, and +replied: "It is impossible. We cannot believe you. We have been long +driving about here, but country nor relations cannot be so easily +forgotten. There is not a raindrop in the air but feels itself kindred +to all the rest, and they fall back into the sea to meet with each +other again. How then can kindred blood be made to forget where it +came from? Even our bodies are part of the ground of Holland; and +Vanderdecken says, if he once were come to Amsterdam, he would rather +be changed into a stone post, well fixed into the ground, than leave +it again, if that were to die elsewhere. But in the mean time, we only +ask you to take these letters." + +The chaplain, looking at him with astonishment, said, "This is the +insanity of natural affection, which rebels against all measures of +time and distance." + +The stranger continued, "Here is a letter from our second mate, to his +dear and only remaining friend, his uncle, the merchant who lives in +the second house on Stuncken Yacht Quay." + +He held forth the letter, but no one would approach to take it. + +Tom Willis raised his voice and said, "One of our men, here, says that +he was in Amsterdam last summer, and he knows for certain that the +street called Stuncken Yacht Quay was pulled down sixty years ago, +and now there is only a large church at that place." + +The man from the Flying Dutchman said: "It is impossible, we cannot +believe you. Here is another letter from myself, in which I have sent +a bank-note to my dear sister, to buy some gallant lace, to make her a +high head-dress." + +Tom Willis hearing this said: "It is most likely that her head now +lies under a tombstone, which will outlast all the changes of the +fashion. But on what house is your bank-note?" + +The stranger replied, "On the house of Vanderbrucker and Company." + +The man, of whom Tom Willis had spoken, said: "I guess there will now +be some discount upon it, for that banking-house was gone to +destruction forty years ago; and Vanderbrucker was afterwards +amissing.--But to remember these things is like raking up the bottom +of an old canal." + +The stranger called out passionately: "It is impossible--We cannot +believe it! It is cruel to say such things to people in our condition. +There is a letter from our captain himself, to his much-beloved and +faithful wife, whom he left at a pleasant summer dwelling, on +the border of the Haarlemer Mer. She promised to have the house +beautifully painted and gilded before he came back, and to get a new +set of looking-glasses for the principal chamber, that she might see +as many images of Vanderdecken as if she had six husbands at once." + +The man replied, "There has been time enough for her to have had six +husbands since then; but were she alive still, there is no fear that +Vanderdecken would ever get home to disturb her." + +On hearing this the stranger again shed tears, and said, if they would +not take the letters, he would leave them; and looking around he +offered the parcel to the captain, chaplain, and to the rest of the +crew successively, but each drew back as it was offered, and put his +hands behind his back. He then laid the letters upon the deck, and +placed upon them a piece of iron, which was lying near, to prevent +them from being blown away. Having done this, he swung himself over +the gangway, and went into the boat. + +We heard the others speak to him, but the rise of a sudden squall +prevented us from distinguishing his reply. The boat was seen to quit +the ship's side, and in a few moments there were no more traces of her +than if she had never been there. The sailors rubbed their eyes, as if +doubting what they had witnessed, but the parcel still lay upon deck, +and proved the reality of all that had passed. + +Duncan Saunderson, the Scotch mate, asked the captain if he should +take them up, and put them in the letter-bag? Receiving no reply, he +would have lifted them if it had not been for Tom Willis, who pulled +him back, saying that nobody should touch them. + +In the mean time the captain went down to the cabin, and the chaplain, +having followed him, found him at his bottle-case, pouring out a +large dram of brandy. The captain, although somewhat disconcerted, +immediately offered the glass to him, saying, "Here, Charters, is what +is good in a cold night." The chaplain declined drinking anything, and +the captain having swallowed the bumper, they both returned to the +deck, where they found the seamen giving their opinions concerning +what should be done with the letters. Tom Willis proposed to pick them +up on a harpoon, and throw it overboard. + +Another speaker said, "I have always heard it asserted that it is +neither safe to accept them voluntarily, nor when they are left to +throw them out of the ship." + +"Let no one touch them," said the carpenter. "The way to do with the +letters from the Flying Dutchman is, to case them upon deck, so that, +if he sends back for them, they are still there to give him." + +The carpenter went to fetch his tools. During his absence, the ship +gave so violent a pitch that the piece of iron slid off the letters, +and they were whirled overboard by the wind, like birds of evil omen +whirring through the air. There was a cry of joy among the sailors, +and they ascribed the favourable change which soon took place in the +weather, to our having got quit of Vanderdecken. We soon got under +weigh again. The night watch being set, the rest of the crew retired +to their berths. + + + + +THE FLOATING BEACON. + +[_MAGA._ OCTOBER 1821.] + + +One dark and stormy night we were on a voyage from Bergen to +Christiansand in a small sloop. Our captain suspected that he had +approached too near the Norwegian coast, though he could not discern +any land, and the wind blew with such violence that we were in +momentary dread of being driven upon a lee-shore. We had endeavoured, +for more than an hour, to keep our vessel away; but our efforts proved +unavailing, and we soon found that we could scarcely hold our own. A +clouded sky, a hazy atmosphere, and irregular showers of sleety rain, +combined to deepen the obscurity of night, and nothing whatever was +visible, except the sparkling of the distant waves, when their tops +happened to break into a wreath of foam. The sea ran very high, and +sometimes broke over the deck so furiously that the men were obliged +to hold by the rigging, lest they should be carried away. Our captain +was a person of timid and irresolute character, and the dangers that +environed us made him gradually lose confidence in himself. He often +gave orders, and countermanded them in the same moment, all the while +taking small quantities of ardent spirits at intervals. Fear and +intoxication soon stupified him completely, and the crew ceased to +consult him, or to pay any respect to his authority, in so far as +regarded the management of the vessel. + +About midnight our mainsail was split, and shortly after we found that +the sloop had sprung a leak. We had before shipped a good deal of +water through the hatches, and the quantity that now entered from +below was so great that we thought she would go down every moment. Our +only chance of escape lay in our boat, which was immediately lowered. +After we had all got on board of her, except the captain, who stood +leaning against the mast, we called to him, requesting that he would +follow us without delay. "How dare you quit the sloop without my +permission?" cried he, staggering forwards. "This is not fit weather +to go a-fishing. Come back--back with you all!"--"No, no," returned +one of the crew; "we don't want to be sent to the bottom for your +obstinacy. Bear a hand there, or we'll leave you behind."--"Captain, +you are drunk," said another; "you cannot take care of yourself. You +must obey _us_ now."--"Silence! mutinous villain!" answered the +captain. "What are you all afraid of? This is a fine breeze--Up +mainsail, and steer her right in the wind's eye." + +The sea knocked the boat so violently and constantly against the side +of the sloop, that we feared the former would be injured or upset if +we did not immediately row away; but, anxious as we were to preserve +our lives, we could not reconcile ourselves to the idea of abandoning +the captain, who grew more obstinate the more we attempted to persuade +him to accompany us. At length one of the crew leaped on board the +sloop, and having seized hold of him, tried to drag him along by +force; but he struggled resolutely, and soon freed himself from the +grasp of the seaman, who immediately resumed his place among us, and +urged that we should not any longer risk our lives for the sake of a +drunkard and a madman. Most of the party declared they were of the +same opinion, and began to push off the boat; but I entreated them to +make one effort more to induce their infatuated commander to accompany +us. At that moment he came up from the cabin, to which he had +descended a little time before, and we immediately perceived that he +was more under the influence of ardent spirits than ever. He abused us +all in the grossest terms, and threatened his crew with severe +punishment, if they did not come on board, and return to their duty. +His manner was so violent that no one seemed willing to attempt to +constrain him to come on board the boat; and after vainly representing +the absurdity of his conduct; and the danger of his situation, we bid +him farewell, and rowed away. + +The sea ran so high, and had such a terrific appearance, that I almost +wished myself in the sloop again. The crew plied the oars in silence, +and we heard nothing but the hissing of the enormous billows as they +gently rose up, and slowly subsided again, without breaking. At +intervals our boat was elevated far above the surface of the ocean, +and remained for a few moments trembling upon the pinnacle of a surge, +from which it would quietly descend into a gulf so deep and awful that +we often thought the dense black mass of waters which formed its sides +were on the point of over-arching us, and bursting upon our heads. We +glided with regular undulations from one billow to another; but every +time we sank into the trough of the sea my heart died within me, for I +felt as if we were going lower down than we had ever done before, and +clung instinctively to the board on which I sat. + +Notwithstanding my terrors, I frequently looked towards the sloop. The +fragments of her mainsail, which remained attached to the yard, and +fluttered in the wind, enabled us to discern exactly where she lay, +and showed, by their motion, that she pitched about in a terrible +manner. We occasionally heard the voice of her unfortunate commander, +calling to us in tones of frantic derision, and by turns vociferating +curses and blasphemous oaths, and singing sea-songs with a wild and +frightful energy. I sometimes almost wished that the crew would +make another effort to save him, but next moment the principle +of self-preservation repressed all feelings of humanity, and I +endeavoured, by closing my ears, to banish the idea of his sufferings +from my mind. + +After a little time the shivering canvass disappeared, and we heard a +tumultuous roaring and bursting of billows, and saw an unusual +sparkling of the sea about a quarter of a mile from us. One of the +sailors cried out that the sloop was now on her beam ends, and that +the noise to which we listened was that of the waves breaking over +her. We could sometimes perceive a large black mass heaving itself up +irregularly among the flashing surges, and then disappearing for a few +moments, and knew but too well that it was the hull of the vessel. At +intervals a shrill and agonised voice uttered some exclamations, but +we could not distinguish what they were, and then a long-drawn shriek +came across the ocean, which suddenly grew more furiously agitated +near the spot where the sloop lay, and in a few moments she sank down, +and a black wave formed itself out of the waters that had engulfed +her, and swelled gloomily into a magnitude greater than that of the +surrounding billows. + +The seamen dropped their oars, as if by one impulse, and looked +expressively at each other, without speaking a word. Awful XXXX +forebodings of a fate similar to that of the captain appeared to chill +every heart, and to repress the energy that had hitherto excited us to +make unremitting exertions for our common safety. While we were in +this state of hopeless inaction, the man at the helm called out that +he saw a light ahead. We all strained our eyes to discern it, but at +the moment the boat was sinking down between two immense waves, one of +which closed the prospect, and we remained in breathless anxiety till +a rising surge elevated us above the level of the surrounding ocean. A +light like a dazzling star then suddenly flashed upon our view, and +joyful exclamations burst from every mouth. "That," cried one of the +crew, "must be the floating beacon which our captain was looking out +for this afternoon. If we can but gain it, we'll be safe enough yet." +This intelligence cheered us all, and the men began to ply the oars +with redoubled vigour, while I employed myself in baling out the water +that sometimes rushed over the gunnel of the boat when a sea happened +to strike her. + +An hour's hard rowing brought us so near the lighthouse that we almost +ceased to apprehend any further danger; but it was suddenly obscured +from our view, and at the same time a confused roaring and dashing +commenced at a little distance, and rapidly increased in loudness. We +soon perceived a tremendous billow rolling towards us. Its top, part +of which had already broke, overhung the base, as if unwilling to +burst until we were within the reach of its violence. The man who +steered the boat brought her head to the sea, but all to no purpose, +for the water rushed furiously over us, and we were completely +immersed. I felt the boat swept from under me, and was left struggling +and groping about in hopeless desperation for something to catch hold +of. When nearly exhausted, I received a severe blow on the side from a +small cask of water which the sea had forced against me. I immediately +twined my arms round it, and, after recovering myself a little, began +to look for the boat, and to call to my companions; but I could not +discover any vestige of them, or of their vessel. However, I still had +a faint hope that they were in existence, and that the intervention of +the billows concealed them from my view. I continued to shout as loud +as possible, for the sound of my own voice in some measure relieved +me from the feeling of awful and heart-chilling loneliness which my +situation inspired; but not even an echo responded to my cries, and, +convinced that my comrades had all perished, I ceased looking for +them, and pushed towards the beacon in the best manner I could. A long +series of fatiguing exertions brought me close to the side of the +vessel which contained it, and I called out loudly, in hopes that +those on board might hear me and come to my assistance; but no one +appearing, I waited patiently till a wave raised me on a level with +the chains, and then caught hold of them, and succeeded in getting on +board. + +As I did not see any person on deck, I went forwards to the skylight, +and looked down. Two men were seated below at a table; and a lamp, +which was suspended above them, being swung backwards and forwards +by the rolling of the vessel, threw its light upon their faces +alternately. One seemed agitated with passion, and the other surveyed +him with a scornful look. They both talked very loudly, and used +threatening gestures, but the sea made so much noise that I could not +distinguish what was said. After a little time they started up, and +seemed to be on the point of closing and wrestling together, when a +woman rushed through a small door and prevented them. I beat upon deck +with my feet at the same time, and the attention of the whole party +was soon transferred to the noise. One of the men immediately came up +the cabin stairs, but stopped short on seeing me, as if irresolute +whether to advance or hasten below again. I approached him, and told +my story in a few words, but instead of making any reply, he went down +to the cabin, and began to relate to the others what he had seen. I +soon followed him, and easily found my way into the apartment where +they all were. They appeared to feel mingled sensations of fear and +astonishment at my presence, and it was some time before any of them +entered into conversation with me, or afforded those comforts which I +stood so much in need of. + +After I had refreshed myself with food, and been provided with a +change of clothing, I went upon deck, and surveyed the singular asylum +in which Providence had enabled me to take refuge from the fury of the +storm. It did not exceed thirty feet long, and was very strongly +built, and completely decked over, except at the entrance to the +cabin. It had a thick mast at midships, with a large lantern, +containing several burners and reflectors, on the top of it; and this +could be lowered and hoisted up again as often as required, by means +of ropes and pulleys. The vessel was firmly moored upon an extensive +sand-bank, the beacon being intended to warn seamen to avoid a part of +the ocean where many lives and vessels had been lost in consequence +of the latter running aground. The accommodations below decks were +narrow, and of an inferior description; however, I gladly retired to +the berth that was allotted me by my entertainers, and fatigue and +the rocking of billows combined to lull me into a quiet and dreamless +sleep. + +Next morning, one of the men, whose name was Angerstoff, came to my +bedside, and called me to breakfast in a surly and imperious manner. + +Others looked coldly and distrustfully when I joined them, and I saw +that they regarded me as an intruder and an unwelcome guest. The meal +passed without almost any conversation, and I went upon deck whenever +it was over. The tempest of the preceding night had in a great measure +abated, but the sea still ran very high, and a black mist hovered over +it, through which the Norwegian coast, lying at eleven miles distance, +could be dimly seen. I looked in vain for some remains of the sloop or +boat. Not a bird enlivened the heaving expanse of waters, and I turned +shuddering from the dreary scene, and asked Morvalden, the youngest of +the men, when he thought I had any chance of getting ashore. "Not very +soon, I'm afraid," returned he. "We are visited once a-month by people +from yonder land, who are appointed to bring us supply of provisions +and other necessaries. They were here only six days ago, so you may +count how long it will be before they return. Fishing-boats sometimes +pass us during fine weather, but we won't have much of that this moon +at least." + +No intelligence could have been more depressing to me than this. The +idea of spending perhaps three weeks in such a place was almost +insupportable, and the more so, as I could not hasten my deliverance +by any exertions of my own, but would be obliged to remain, in a state +of inactive suspense, till good fortune, or the regular course of +events, afforded me the means of getting ashore. Neither Angerstoff +nor Morvalden seemed to sympathise with my distress, or even to care +that I should have it in my power to leave the vessel, except in so +far as my departure would free them from the expense of supporting me. +They returned indistinct and repulsive answers to all the questions I +asked, and appeared anxious to avoid having the least communication +with me. During the greater part of the forenoon, they employed +themselves in trimming the lamps and cleaning the reflectors, but +never conversed any. I easily perceived that a mutual animosity +existed between them, but was unable to discover the cause of it. +Morvalden seemed to fear Angerstoff, and at the same time to feel a +deep resentment towards him, which he did not dare to express. +Angerstoff apparently was aware of this, for he behaved to his +companion with the undisguised fierceness of determined hate, and +openly thwarted him in everything. + +Marietta, the female on board, was the wife of Morvalden. She remained +chiefly below decks, and attended to the domestic concerns of the +vessel. She was rather good-looking, but so reserved and forbidding in +her manners that she formed no desirable acquisition to our party, +already so heartless and unsociable in its character. + +When night approached, after the lapse of a wearisome and monotonous +day, I went on deck to see the beacon lighted, and continued walking +backwards and forwards till a late hour. I watched the lantern, as it +swung from side to side, and flashed upon different portions of the +sea alternately, and sometimes fancied I saw men struggling among the +billows that tumbled around, and at other times imagined I could +discern the white sail of an approaching vessel. Human voices seemed +to mingle with the noise of the bursting waves, and I often listened +intently, almost in the expectation of hearing articulate sounds. My +mind grew sombre as the scene itself, and strange and fearful ideas +obtruded themselves in rapid succession. It was dreadful to be chained +in the middle of the deep--to be the continual sport of the quietless +billows--to be shunned as a fatal thing by those who traversed the +solitary ocean. Though within sight of the shore, our situation was +more dreary than if we had been sailing a thousand miles from it. We +felt not the pleasure of moving forwards, nor the hope of reaching +port, nor the delights arising from favourable breezes and genial +weather. When a billow drove us to one side, we were tossed back again +by another; our imprisonment had no variety or definite termination; +and the calm and the tempest were alike uninteresting to us. I felt as +if my fate had already become linked with that of those who were on +board the vessel. My hopes of being again permitted to mingle with +mankind died away, and I anticipated long years of gloom and despair +in the company of these repulsive persons into whose hands fate had +unexpectedly consigned me. + +Angerstoff and Morvalden tended the beacon alternately during the +night. The latter had the watch while I remained upon deck. His +appearance and manner indicated much perturbation of mind, and he +paced hurriedly from side to side, sometimes muttering to himself, +and sometimes stopping suddenly to look through the skylight, as +if anxious to discover what was going on below. He would then gaze +intently upon the heavens, and next moment take out his watch, and +contemplate the motions of its hands. I did not offer to disturb these +reveries, and thought myself altogether unobserved by him, till he +suddenly advanced to the spot where I stood, and said, in a loud +whisper, "There's a villain below--a desperate villain--this is +true--he is capable of anything--and the woman is as bad as him." I +asked what proof he had of all this. "Oh, I know it," returned he; +"that wretch Angerstoff, whom I once thought my friend, has gained +my wife's affections. She has been faithless to me--yes, she has. +They both wish I were out of the way. Perhaps they are now planning +my destruction. What can I do? It is very terrible to be shut +up in such narrow limits with those who hate me, and to have +no means of escaping, or defending myself from their infernal +machinations."--"Why do you not leave the beacon," inquired I, "and +abandon your companion and guilty wife?"--"Ah, that is impossible," +answered Morvalden; "if I went on shore I would forfeit my liberty. I +live here that I may escape the vengeance of the law, which I once +outraged for the sake of her who has now withdrawn her love from me. +What ingratitude! Mine is indeed a terrible fate, but I must bear it. +And shall I never again wander through the green fields, and climb the +rocks that encircle my native place? Are the weary dashings of the +sea, and the moanings of the wind, to fill my ears continually, all +the while telling me that I am an exile?--a hopeless despairing exile. +But it won't last long," cried he, catching hold of my arm; "they will +murder me!--I am sure of it--I never go to sleep without dreaming that +Angerstoff has pushed me overboard." + +"Your lonely situation and inactive life dispose you to give way to +these chimeras," said I; "you must endeavour to resist them. Perhaps +things aren't so bad as you suppose."--"This is not a lonely +situation," replied Morvalden, in a solemn tone. "Perhaps you will +have proof of what I say before you leave us. Many vessels used to be +lost here, and a few are wrecked still; and the skeletons and corpses +of those who have perished lie all over the sand-bank. Sometimes, at +midnight, I have seen crowds of human figures moving backwards and +forwards upon the surface of the ocean, almost as far as the eye could +reach. I neither knew who they were, nor what they did there. When +watching the lantern alone, I often hear a number of voices talking +together, as it were, under the waves; and I twice caught the very +words they uttered, but I cannot repeat them--they dwell incessantly +in my memory, but my tongue refuses to pronounce them, or to explain +to others what they meant." + +"Do not let your senses be imposed upon by a distempered imagination," +said I; "there is no reality in the things you have told XXXX +me."--"Perhaps my mind occasionally wanders a little, for it has a +heavy burden upon it," returned Morvalden. "I have been guilty of a +dreadful crime. Many that now lie in the deep below us might start up +and accuse me of what I am just going to reveal to you. One stormy +night, shortly after I began to take charge of this beacon, while +watching on deck, I fell into a profound sleep. I know not how long it +continued, but I was awakened by horrible shouts and cries. I started +up, and instantly perceived that all the lamps in the lantern were +extinguished. It was very dark, and the sea raged furiously; but +notwithstanding all this, I observed a ship aground on the bank, a +little way from me, her sails fluttering in the wind, and the waves +breaking over her with violence. Half frantic with horror, I ran down +to the cabin for a taper, and lighted the lamps as fast as possible. +The lantern, when hoisted to the top of the mast, threw a vivid glare +on the surrounding ocean, and showed me the vessel disappearing among +the billows. Hundreds of people lay gasping in the water near her. +Men, women, and children writhed together in agonising struggles, +and uttered soul-harrowing cries; and their countenances, as they +gradually stiffened under the hand of death, were all turned towards +me with glassy stare, while the lurid expression of their glistening +eyes upbraided me with having been the cause of their untimely end. +Never shall I forget these looks. They haunt me wherever I am--asleep +and awake--night and day. I have kept this tale of horror secret till +now, and do not know if I shall ever have courage to relate it again. +The masts of the vessel projected above the surface of the sea for +several months after she was lost, as if to keep me in recollection of +the night in which so many human creatures perished, in consequence of +my neglect and carelessness. Would to God I had no memory! I sometimes +think I am getting mad. The past and present are equally dreadful to +me; and I dare not anticipate the future." + +I felt a sort of superstitious dread steal over me, while Morvalden +related his story, and we continued walking the deck in silence till +the period of his watch expired. I then went below, and took refuge +in my berth, though I was but little inclined for sleep. The gloomy +ideas and dark forebodings expressed by Morvalden weighed heavily upon +my mind, without my knowing why; and my situation, which had at first +seemed only dreary and depressing, began to have something +indefinitely terrible in its aspect. + +Next day, when Morvalden proceeded as usual to put the beacon in +order, he called upon Angerstoff to come and assist him, which the +latter peremptorily refused. Morvalden then went down to the cabin, +where his companion was, and requested to know why his orders were not +obeyed. "Because I hate trouble," replied Angerstoff. "I am master +here," said Morvalden, "and have been intrusted with the direction of +everything. Do not attempt to trifle with me."--"Trifle with you!" +exclaimed Angerstoff, looking contemptuously. "No, no, I am no +trifler; and I advise you to walk up-stairs again, lest I prove this +to your cost." "Why, husband," cried Marietta, "I believe there are no +bounds to your laziness. You make this young man toil from morning to +night, and take advantage of his good nature in the most shameful +manner."--"Peace, infamous woman!" said Morvalden; "I know very well +why you stand up in his defence; but I'll put a stop to the intimacy +that exists between you. Go to your room instantly! You are my +wife, and shall obey me." "Is this usage to be borne?" exclaimed +Marietta, "Will no one step forward to protect me from his violence?" +"Insolent fellow!" cried Angerstoff, "don't presume to insult my +mistress."--"Mistress!" repeated Morvalden. "This to my face!" +and struck him a severe blow. Angerstoff sprung forward, with the +intention of returning it, but I got between them, and prevented him. +Marietta then began to shed tears, and applauded the generosity her +paramour had evinced in sparing her husband, who immediately went upon +deck, without speaking a word, and hurriedly resumed the work that had +engaged his attention previous to the quarrel. + +Neither of the two men seemed at all disposed for a reconciliation, +and they had no intercourse during the whole day, except angry and +revengeful looks. I frequently observed Marietta in deep consultation +with Angerstoff, and easily perceived that the subject of debate had +some relation to her injured husband, whose manner evinced much alarm +and anxiety, although he endeavoured to look calm and cheerful. He did +not make his appearance at meals, but spent all his time upon deck. +Whenever Angerstoff accidentally passed him, he shrank back with an +expression of dread, and intuitively, as it were, caught hold of a +rope, or any other object to which he could cling. The day proved a +wretched and fearful one to me, for I momentarily expected that some +terrible affray would occur on board, and that I would be implicated +in it. I gazed upon the surrounding sea almost without intermission, +ardently hoping that some boat might approach near enough to afford me +an opportunity of quitting the horrid and dangerous abode in which I +was imprisoned. + +It was Angerstoff's watch on deck till midnight; and as I did not wish +to have any communication with him, I remained below. At twelve +o'clock Morvalden got up and relieved him, and he came down to the +cabin, and soon after retired to his berth. Believing, from this +arrangement, that they had no hostile intentions, I lay down in bed +with composure, and fell asleep. It was not long before a noise +overhead awakened me. I started up, and listened intently. The +sound appeared to be that of two persons scuffling together, for a +succession of irregular footsteps beat the deck, and I could hear +violent blows given at intervals. I got out of my berth, and entered +the cabin, where I found Marietta standing alone, with a lamp in her +hand. "Do you hear that?" cried I.--"Hear what?" returned she; "I have +had a dreadful dream--I am all trembling." "Is Angerstoff below?" +demanded I.--"No--Yes, I mean," said Marietta. "Why do you ask that? +He went up-stairs." "Your husband and he are fighting. We must part +them instantly."--"How can that be?" answered Marietta; "Angerstoff is +asleep." "Asleep! Didn't you say he went up-stairs?"--"I don't know," +returned she; "I am hardly awake yet--Let us listen for a moment." + +Everything was still for a few seconds; then a voice shrieked out, +"Ah! that knife! you are murdering me! Draw it out! No help! Are you +done? Now--now--now!" A heavy body fell suddenly along the deck, and +some words were spoken in a faint tone, but the roaring of the sea +prevented me from hearing what they were. + +I rushed up the cabin stairs, and tried to push open the folding-doors +at the head of them, but they resisted my utmost efforts. I knocked +violently and repeatedly to no purpose. "Some one is killed," cried I. +"The person who barred these doors on the outside is guilty."--"I know +nothing of that," returned Marietta. "We can't be of any use +now.--Come here again!--how dreadfully quiet it is. My God!--a drop of +blood has fallen through the skylight.--What faces are yon looking +down upon us?--But this lamp is going out.--We must be going through +the water at a terrible rate--how it rushes past us!--I am getting +dizzy.--Do you hear these bells ringing? and strange voices----" + +The cabin doors were suddenly burst open, and Angerstoff next moment +appeared before us, crying out, "Morvalden has fallen overboard. Throw +a rope to him!--He will be drowned." His hands and dress were marked +with blood, and he had a frightful look of horror and confusion. +"You are a murderer!" exclaimed I, almost involuntarily.--"How do +you know that?" said he, staggering back; "I'm sure you never saw--" +"Hush, hush," cried Marietta to him; "are you mad? Speak again!--What +frightens you?--Why don't you run and help Morvalden?" "Has XXXX +anything happened to him?" inquired Angerstoff, with a gaze of +consternation.--"You told us he had fallen overboard," returned +Marietta; "must my husband perish?"--"Give me some water to wash my +hands," said Angerstoff, growing deadly pale, and catching hold of +the table for support. + +I now hastened upon deck, but Morvalden was not there. I then went to +the side of the vessel, and put my hands on the gunwale, while I +leaned over, and looked downwards. On taking them off, I found them +marked with blood. I grew sick at heart, and began to identify +myself with Angerstoff the murderer. The sea, the beacon, and the +sky, appeared of a sanguine hue; and I thought I heard the dying +exclamations of Morvalden sounding a hundred fathom below me, and +echoing through the caverns of the deep. I advanced to the cabin door, +intending to descend the stairs, but found that some one had fastened +it firmly on the inside. I felt convinced that I was intentionally +shut out, and a cold shuddering pervaded my frame. I covered my face +with my hands, not daring to look around; for it seemed as if I +was excluded from the company of the living, and doomed to be the +associate of the spirits of drowned and murdered men. After a little +time I began to walk hastily backwards and forwards; but the light of +the lantern happened to flash on a stream of blood that ran along the +deck, and I could not summon up resolution to pass the spot where it +was a second time. The sky looked black and threatening--the sea had a +fierceness in its sound and motions--and the wind swept over its bosom +with melancholy sighs. Everything was sombre and ominous; and I looked +in vain for some object that would, by its soothing aspect, remove the +dark impressions which crowded upon my mind. + +While standing near the bows of the vessel, I saw a hand and arm rise +slowly behind the stern, and wave from side to side. I started back as +far as I could go in horrible affright, and looked again, expecting to +behold the entire spectral figure of which I supposed they formed a +part. But nothing more was visible. I struck my eyes till the light +flashed from them, in hopes that my senses had been imposed upon by +distempered vision. However, it was in vain, for the hand still +motioned me to advance, and I rushed forwards with wild desperation, +and caught hold of it. I was pulled along a little way notwithstanding +the resistance I made, and soon discovered a man stretched along the +stern-cable, and clinging to it in a convulsive manner. It was +Morvalden. He raised his head feebly, and said something, but I could +only distinguish the words "murdered--overboard--reached this +rope--terrible death."--I stretched out my arms to support him, but at +that moment the vessel plunged violently, and he was shaken off the +cable, and dropped among the waves. He floated for an instant, and +then disappeared under the keel. + +I seized the first rope I could find, and threw one end of it over the +stern, and likewise flung some planks into the sea, thinking that the +unfortunate Morvalden might still retain strength enough to catch hold +of them if they came within his reach. I continued on the watch for a +considerable time, but at last abandoned all hopes of saving him, and +made another attempt to get down to the cabin. The doors were now +unfastened, and I opened them without any difficulty. The first thing +I saw on going below, was Angerstoff stretched along the floor, +and fast asleep. His torpid look, flushed countenance, and uneasy +respiration, convinced me that he had taken a large quantity of ardent +spirits. Marietta was in her own apartment. Even the presence of a +murderer appeared less terrible than the frightful solitariness of the +deck, and I lay down upon a bench determining to spend the remainder +of the night there. The lamp that hung from the roof soon went out, +and left me in total darkness. Imagination began to conjure up a +thousand appalling forms, and the voice of Angerstoff, speaking in his +sleep, filled my ears at intervals--"Hoist up the beacon!--the lamps +won't burn--horrible!--they contain blood instead of oil. Is that a +boat coming?--Yes, yes, I hear the oars. Damnation!--why is that +corpse so long of sinking?--if it doesn't go down soon they'll find me +out. How terribly the wind blows!--we are driving ashore--See! see! +Morvalden is swimming after us--how he writhes in the water!" Marietta +now rushed from her room, with a light in her hand, and seizing +Angerstoff by the arm, tried to awake him. He soon rose up with +chattering teeth and shivering limbs, and was on the point of +speaking, but she prevented him, and he staggered away to his berth, +and lay down in it. + +Next morning, when I went upon deck, after a short and perturbed +sleep, I found Marietta dashing water over it, that she might efface +all vestige of the transactions of the preceding night. Angerstoff did +not make his appearance till noon, and his looks were ghastly and +agonised. He seemed stupified with horror, and sometimes entirely lost +all perception of the things around him for a considerable time. He +suddenly came close up to me, and demanded, with a bold air, but +quivering voice, what I had meant by calling him a murderer?--"Why, +that you are one," replied I, after a pause. + +"Beware what you say," returned he fiercely,--"you cannot escape my +power now--I tell you, sir, Morvalden fell overboard."--"Whence, then, +came that blood that covered the deck?" inquired I. He grew pale, and +then cried, "You lie--you lie infernally--there was none!"--"I saw +it," said I--"I saw Morvalden himself--long after midnight. He was +clinging to the stern-cable, and said"--"Ha, ha, ha--devils!--curses!" +exclaimed Angerstoff--"Did you hear me dreaming?--I was mad last +night--Come, come, come!--We shall tend the beacon together--Let us +make friends, and don't be afraid, for you'll find me a good fellow in +the end." He now forcibly shook hands with me, and then hurried down +to the cabin. + +In the afternoon, while sitting on deck, I discerned a boat far off, +but I determined to conceal this from Angerstoff and Marietta, +lest they should use some means to prevent its approach. I walked +carelessly about, casting a glance upon the sea occasionally, and +meditating how I could best take advantage of the means of deliverance +which I had in prospect. After the lapse of an hour, the boat was not +more than half a mile distant from us, but she suddenly changed her +course, and bore away towards the shore. I immediately shouted, and +waved a handkerchief over my head, as signals for her to return. +Angerstoff rushed from the cabin, and seized my arm, threatening at +the same time to push me overboard if I attempted to hail her again. +I disengaged myself from his grasp, and dashed him violently from me. +The noise brought Marietta upon deck, who immediately perceived the +cause of the affray, and cried, "Does the wretch mean to make his +escape? For Godsake, prevent the possibility of that!"--"Yes, yes," +returned Angerstoff; "he never shall leave the vessel--He had as well +take care, lest I do to him what I did to--" "To Morvalden, I +suppose you mean," said I.--"Well, well, speak it out," replied +he ferociously; "there is no one here to listen to your damnable +falsehoods, and I'll not be fool enough to give you an opportunity +of uttering them elsewhere. I'll strangle you the next time you +tell these lies about--" "Come," interrupted Marietta, "don't be +uneasy--the boat will soon be far enough away--If he wants to give you +the slip, he must leap overboard." + +I was irritated and disappointed beyond measure at the failure of the +plan of escape I had formed, but thought it most prudent to conceal my +feelings. I now perceived the rashness and bad consequences of my +bold assertions respecting the murder of Morvalden; for Angerstoff +evidently thought that his personal safety, and even his life, would +be endangered, if I ever found an opportunity of accusing and giving +evidence against him. All my motions were now watched with double +vigilance. Marietta and her paramour kept upon deck by turns during +the whole day, and the latter looked over the surrounding ocean, +through a glass, at intervals, to discover if any boat or vessel was +approaching us. He often muttered threats as he walked past me, +and, more than once, seemed waiting for an opportunity to push me +overboard. Marietta and he frequently whispered together, and I always +imagined I heard my name mentioned in the course of these +conversations. + +I now felt completely miserable, being satisfied that Angerstoff +was bent upon my destruction. I wandered, in a state of fearful +circumspection, from one part of the vessel to the other, not knowing +how to secure myself from his designs. Every time he approached me, my +heart palpitated dreadfully; and when night came on, I was agonised +with terror, and could not remain in one spot, but hurried backwards +and forwards between the cabin and the deck, looking wildly from side +to side, and momentarily expecting to feel a cold knife entering my +vitals. My forehead began to burn, and my eyes dazzled; I became +acutely sensitive, and the slightest murmur, or the faintest breath of +wind, set my whole frame in a state of uncontrollable vibration. At +first, I sometimes thought of throwing myself into the sea; but I soon +acquired such an intense feeling of existence, that the mere idea of +death was horrible to me. + +Shortly after midnight I lay down in my berth, almost exhausted by the +harrowing emotions that had careered through my mind during the past +day. I felt a strong desire to sleep, yet dared not indulge myself; +soul and body seemed at war. Every noise excited my imagination, and +scarcely a minute passed, in the course of which I did not start up +and look around. Angerstoff paced the deck overhead, and when the +sound of his footsteps accidentally ceased at any time, I grew deadly +sick at heart, expecting that he was silently coming to murder me. At +length I thought I heard some one near my bed--I sprung from it, and, +having seized a bar of iron that lay on the floor, rushed into the +cabin. I found Angerstoff there, who started back when he saw me, and +said, "What is the matter? Did you think that--I want you to watch the +beacon, that I may have some rest. Follow me upon deck, and I will +give you directions about it." I hesitated a moment, and then went up +the gangway stairs behind him. We walked forward to the mast together, +and he showed how I was to lower the lantern when any of the lamps +happened to go out, and bidding me beware of sleep, returned to the +cabin. Most of my fears forsook me the moment he disappeared. I felt +nearly as happy as if I had been set at liberty, and, for a time, +forgot that my situation had anything painful or alarming connected +with it. Angerstoff resumed his station in about three hours, and I +again took refuge in my berth, where I enjoyed a short but undisturbed +slumber. + +Next day while I was walking the deck, and anxiously surveying the +expanse of ocean around, Angerstoff requested me to come down to the +cabin. I obeyed his summons, and found him there. He gave me a book, +saying it was very entertaining, and would serve to amuse me during my +idle hours; and then went above, shutting the doors carefully behind +him. I was struck with his behaviour, but felt no alarm, for Marietta +sat at work near me, apparently unconscious of what had passed. I +began to peruse the volume I held in my hand, and found it so +interesting that I paid little attention to anything else, till the +dashing of oars struck my ear. I sprang from my chair, with the +intention of hastening upon deck, but Marietta stopped me, saying, "It +is of no use--the gangway doors are fastened." Notwithstanding this +information, I made an attempt to open them, but could not succeed. I +was now convinced, by the percussion against the vessel, that a boat +lay alongside, and I heard a strange voice addressing Angerstoff. +Fired with the idea of deliverance, I leaped upon a table which stood +in the middle of the cabin, and tried to push off the skylight, but +was suddenly stunned by a violent blow on the back of my head. I +staggered back and looked round. Marietta stood close behind me, +brandishing an axe, as if in the act of repeating the stroke. Her +face was flushed with rage, and, having seized my arm, she cried, +"Come down instantly, accursed villain! I know you want to betray us, +but may we all go to the bottom if you find a chance of doing so." I +struggled to free myself from her grasp, but, being in a state of +dizziness and confusion, I was unable to effect this, and she soon +pulled me to the ground. At that moment, Angerstoff hurriedly entered +the cabin, exclaiming, "What noise is this? Oh, just as I expected! +Has that devil--that spy--been trying to get above boards? Why haven't +I the heart to despatch him at once? But there's no time now. The +people are waiting--Marietta, come and lend a hand." They now forced +me down upon the floor, and bound me to an iron ring that was fixed in +it. This being done, Angerstoff directed his female accomplice to +prevent me from speaking, and went upon deck again. + +While in this state of bondage, I heard distinctly all that passed +without. Some one asked Angerstoff how Morvalden did.--"Well, quite +well," replied the former; "but he's below, and so sick that he can't +see any person." "Strange enough," said the first speaker, laughing. +"Is he ill and in good health at the same time? he had as well be +overboard as in that condition."--"Overboard!" repeated Angerstoff, +"what!--how do you mean?--all false!--but listen to me,--Are there any +news stirring ashore?"--"Why," said the stranger, "the chief talk +there just now is about a curious thing that happened this morning. A +dead man was found upon the beach, and they suspect, from the wounds +on his body, that he hasn't got fair play. They are making a great +noise about it, and Government means to send out a boat, with an +officer on board, who is to visit all the shipping round this, that he +may ascertain if any of them has lost a man lately. 'Tis a dark +business; but they'll get to the bottom of it, I warrant ye.--Why, you +look as pale as if you knew more about this matter than you choose to +tell."--"No, no, no," returned Angerstoff; "I never hear of a murder +but I think of a friend of mine who--but I won't detain you, for the +sea is getting up--we'll have a blowy night, I'm afraid." "So you +don't want any fish to-day?" cried the stranger, "then I'll be +off--Good morning, good morning. I suppose you'll have the Government +boat alongside by-and-by." I now heard the sound of oars, and +supposed, from the conversation having ceased, that the fishermen had +departed. Angerstoff came down to the cabin soon after, and released +me without speaking a word. + +Marietta then approached him, and, taking hold of his arm, said, "Do +you believe what that man has told you?"--"Yes, by the eternal hell!" +cried he, vehemently; "I suspect I will find the truth of it soon +enough." "My God!" exclaimed she, "what is to become of us?--How +dreadful! We are chained here, and cannot escape."--"Escape what?" +interrupted Angerstoff;--"girl, you have lost your senses. Why should +we fear the officers of justice? Keep a guard over your tongue." "Oh," +returned Marietta, "I talk without thinking, or understanding my own +words; but come upon deck, and let me speak with you there." They now +went up the gangway stairs together, and continued in deep +conversation for some time. + +Angerstoff gradually became more agitated as the day advanced. He +watched upon deck almost without intermission, and seemed irresolute +what to do, sometimes sitting down composedly, and at other times +hurrying backwards and forwards, with clenched hands and bloodless +cheeks. The wind blew pretty fresh from the shore, and there was a +heavy swell; and I supposed, from the anxious looks with which he +contemplated the sky, that he hoped the threatening aspect of the +weather would prevent the government boat from putting out to sea. He +kept his glass constantly in his hand, and surveyed the ocean through +it in all directions. + +At length he suddenly dashed the instrument away, and exclaimed, "God +help us! they are coming now!" Marietta, on hearing this, ran wildly +towards him, and put her hands in his, but he pushed her to one side, +and began to pace the deck, apparently in deep thought. After a +little time, he started, and cried, "I have it now!--It's the only +plan--I'll manage the business--yes, yes--I'll cut the cables, and +off we'll go--that's settled!" He then seized an axe, and first +divided the hawser at the bows, and afterwards the one attached to +the stern. + +The vessel immediately began to drift away, and having no sails or +helm to steady her, rolled with such violence that I was dashed from +side to side several times. She often swung over so much that I +thought she would not regain the upright position, and Angerstoff all +the while unconsciously strengthened this belief, by exclaiming, "She +will capsize! shift the ballast, or we must go to the bottom!" In the +midst of this, I kept my station upon deck, intently watching the +boat, which was still several miles distant. I waited in fearful +expectation, thinking that every new wave against which we were +impelled would burst upon our vessel and overwhelm us, while our +pursuers were too far off to afford any assistance. The idea of +perishing when on the point of being saved was inexpressibly +agonising. + +As the day advanced, the hopes I had entertained of the boat making up +with us gradually diminished. The wind blew violently, and we drifted +along at a rapid rate, and the weather grew so hazy that our pursuers +soon became quite indistinguishable. Marietta and Angerstoff appeared +to be stupified with terror. They stood motionless, holding firmly by +the bulwarks of the vessel; and though the waves frequently broke +over the deck, and rushed down the gangway, they did not offer to shut +the companion door, which would have remained open had I not closed +it. The tempest, gloom, and danger that thickened around us, neither +elicited from them any expressions of mutual regard, nor seemed to +produce the slightest sympathetic emotion in their bosoms. They gazed +sternly at each other and at me, and every time the vessel rolled, +clung with convulsive eagerness to whatever lay within their reach. + +About sunset our attention was attracted by a dreadful roaring, which +evidently did not proceed from the waves around us; but the atmosphere +being very hazy, we were unable to ascertain the cause of it for a +long time. At length we distinguished a range of high cliffs, against +which the sea beat with terrible fury. Whenever the surge broke upon +them, large jets of foam started up to a great height, and flashed +angrily over their black and rugged surfaces, while the wind moaned +and whistled with fearful caprice among the projecting points of rock. +A dense mist covered the upper part of the cliffs, and prevented us +from seeing if there were any houses upon their summits, though this +point appeared of little importance, for we drifted towards the shore +so fast that immediate death seemed inevitable. + +We soon felt our vessel bound twice against the sand, and in a little +time after a heavy sea carried her up the beach, where she remained +imbedded and hard aground. During the ebb of the waves there was not +more than two feet of water round her bows. I immediately perceived +this, and watching a favourable opportunity, swung myself down to the +beach by means of part of the cable that projected through the +hawse-hole. I began to run towards the cliffs the moment my feet +touched the ground, and Angerstoff attempted to follow me, that he +might prevent my escape; but, while in the act of descending from the +vessel, the sea flowed in with such violence that he was obliged to +spring on board again to save himself from being overwhelmed by its +waters. + +I hurried on and began to climb up the rocks, which were very steep +and slippery; but I soon grew breathless from fatigue, and found it +necessary to stop. It was now almost dark, and when I looked around, I +neither saw anything distinctly, nor could form the least idea how far +I had still to ascend before I reached the top of the cliffs. I knew +not which way to turn my steps, and remained irresolute, till the +barking of a dog faintly struck my ear. I joyfully followed the sound, +and, after an hour of perilous exertion, discovered a light at some +distance, which I soon found to proceed from the window of a small +hut. + +After I had knocked repeatedly, the door was opened by an old man, +with a lamp in his hand. He started back on seeing me, for my dress +was wet and disordered, my face and hands had been wounded while +scrambling among the rocks, and fatigue and terror had given me a wan +and agitated look. I entered the house, the inmates of which were a +woman and a boy, and having seated myself near the fire, related to my +host all that had occurred on board the floating beacon, and then +requested him to accompany me down to the beach, that we might search +for Angerstoff and Marietta. "No, no," cried he; "that is impossible. +Hear how the storm rages! Worlds would not induce me to have any +communication with murderers. It would be impious to attempt it on +such a night as this. The Almighty is surely punishing them now! Come +here and look out." + +I followed him to the door, but the moment he opened it the wind +extinguished the lamp. Total darkness prevailed without, and a chaos +of rushing, bursting, and moaning sounds swelled upon the ear with +irregular loudness. The blast swept round the hut in violent eddyings, +and we felt the chilly spray of the sea driving upon our faces at +intervals. I shuddered, and the old man closed the door, and then +resumed his seat near the fire. + +My entertainer made a bed for me upon the floor, but the noise of the +tempest, and the anxiety I felt about the fate of Angerstoff and +Marietta, kept me awake the greater part of the night. Soon after +dawn my host accompanied me down to the beach. We found the wreck of +the floating beacon, but were unable to discover any traces of the +guilty pair whom I had left on board of it. + + + + + COLONNA THE PAINTER. + A TALE OF ITALY AND THE ARTS. + +[_MAGA._ SEPTEMBER 1829.] + +[The following "Tale of Italy and the Arts" was submitted in MS. to +the late Mr Coleridge, who signified his approval by giving to the +writer, as an appropriate heading, two then unpublished stanzas from +his admirable translation of Goethe's Song of Mignon in "Wilhelm +Meister," beginning "Kennst du das Land?"] + + Know'st thou the Land where the pale Citrons blow, + And Golden Fruits through dark green foliage glow? + O soft the breeze that breathes from that blue sky! + Still stand the Myrtles and the Laurels high. + Know'st thou it well? O thither, Friend! + Thither with thee, Beloved! would I wend. + + Know'st thou the House? On Columns rests its Height; + Shines the Saloon; the Chambers glisten bright; + And Marble Figures stand and look at me-- + Ah, thou poor Child! what have they done to thee! + Know'st thou it well? O thither, Friend! + Thither with thee, Protector! would I wend. + + S. T. COLERIDGE, _from_ GOETHE. + + +INTRODUCTION. + +After the fall of Napoleon had given peace to Europe, and insipidity +to a soldier's life, I returned with my regiment to B----, and too +soon discovered that the lounging habits and quiet security of parade +and garrison service were miserable substitutes for the high and +stirring excitement of the bivouac, the skirmish, and the battle. I +found myself gradually sinking into a state of mental atrophy, +perilous alike to physical and moral health; and, after a fruitless +struggle of some months with these morbid longings for old habits and +associations, I determined to quit the army, and to realise the +favourite daydream of my early youth--a walk through Italy; hoping, by +two years of travel and incessant intercourse with men and books, to +gain a fresh hold upon life and happiness, and to repair, in some +measure, those deficiencies in my education, which the premature +adoption of a military life had necessarily involved. + +Pausing a few days at Vienna, I formed a friendly intimacy with a +young and intelligent Venetian, of the ancient senatorial house of +F----i; and, on my return through Venice, after a rewarding and +delightful residence of two years in various parts of Italy, I met my +Vienna friend in one of the taverns of St Mark's. After a cordial +greeting, he told me that he was obliged to leave Venice on the +ensuing day, to take possession of an estate and villa in Lombardy, +bequeathed to him by a deceased relative. The gardens, he added, +covered the slope of a woody hill, which commanded a wide view over +the classic shores and environs of the Lake of Garda; and the mansion, +although time-worn and ruinous, contained some fine old paintings, and +a store of old books and manuscripts which had not seen the light for +ages. I had already experienced the keen delight of exploring the +mines of literary wealth contained in the old libraries of Italy, and +I did not hesitate to accept the cordial invitation to accompany him +which closed this alluring description of his Lombard villa. + +We left Venice the following morning, and, proceeding by easy journeys +through Padua and Verona, we reached the villa on the evening of the +third day, and installed ourselves in the least decayed apartments of +the ruinous but still imposing and spacious mansion. On the ensuing +day I rose early, and hastened to examine some large fresco paintings +in the saloon, which had powerfully excited my curiosity during a +cursory view by lamp-light. They were admirably designed, and, from +the recurrence in all of the remarkable form and features of a young +man of great personal beauty, they were evidently a connected series; +but, with the exception of two, the colouring and details were nearly +obliterated by time and the humid air from the contiguous lake. Upon +scrolls beneath the two least injured paintings were the inscriptions +of _La Scoperta_ and _La Vendetta_; and the incidents delineated in +them were so powerfully drawn, and so full of dramatic expression, +that a novelist of moderate ingenuity would readily have constructed +from them an effective romance. The picture subscribed _La Scoperta_ +represented the interior of an elegant saloon decorated in Italian +taste with pictures, busts, and candelabra. In the foreground was +seated a young artist in the plain garb rendered familiar to modern +eyes by the portraits of Raphael and other painters of the sixteenth +century; a short cloak and doublet of black cloth, and tight black +pantaloons of woven silk. The form and features of this youth were +eminently noble. His countenance beamed with dignity and power, and +his tall figure displayed a classic symmetry and grandeur which +forcibly reminded me of that magnificent statue, the reposing +Discobolus. Before him were an easel and canvass, on which was +distinguishable the roughly sketched likeness of a robust and +middle-aged man sitting opposite to him in the middle-ground of the +picture, and richly attired in a Spanish mantle of velvet. His sleeves +were slashed and embroidered in the fashion of the period, and his +belt and dagger glittered with adornments of gold and jewels; while +his golden spurs, and the steel corselet which covered his ample +chest, indicated a soldier of distinguished rank. In the background +stood a tall and handsome youth leaning with folded arms against the +window-niche. He was attired in the splendid costume of the Venetian +nobles, as represented in the portraits of Titian and Paul Veronese, +and his dark eyes were fixed upon the painter and his model with an +expression of intense and wondering solicitude. And truly the +impassioned looks and attitudes of the individuals before him were +well adapted to excite sympathy and astonishment. The young artist sat +erect, his tall figure somewhat thrown back, and his right hand, +holding the pencil, was resting on the elbow of his chair; while from +his glowing and dilated features, intense hatred and mortal defiance +blazed out upon the man whose portrait he had begun to paint. In the +delineation of the broad and knitted brow, the eagle-fierceness of the +full and brilliant eye, and the stern compression of the lips, the +unknown artist had been wonderfully successful, and not less so in the +display of very opposite emotions in the harsh and repulsive +lineaments of the personage sitting for his portrait. The wild +expression of every feature indicated that he had suddenly made some +strange and startling discovery. His face was of a livid and deadly +yellow; his small and deep-set eyes were fixed in the wide stare of +terror upon the artist; and his person was half raised from his seat, +while his hands convulsively clutched the elbows of the chair. In +short, his look and gesture were those of a man who, while unconscious +of danger, had suddenly roused a sleeping lion. + +The companion picture, called _La Vendetta_, portrayed a widely +different scene and circumstance. The locality was a deep ravine, the +shelving sides of which were thickly covered with trees; and the +background of this woody hollow was blocked up to a considerable +height by the leafy branches of recently hewn timber. In the right +foreground were two horses, saddled and bridled, and at their feet +the bleeding corpses of two men, clothed in splendid Greek costume. On +the left of the painting appeared the young Venetian nobleman before +described: he was on horseback, and watching, with looks of deep +interest and excitement, the issue of a mortal combat between the two +prominent figures in _La Scoperta_. But here the younger man was no +longer in the plain and unassuming garb of an artist. He was attired +in a richly embroidered vest of scarlet and gold; white pantaloons of +woven silk displayed advantageously the full and perfect contour of +his limbs; while a short mantello of dark-blue velvet fell gracefully +from his shoulders, and a glossy feather in his Spanish hat waved over +his fine features, which told an eloquent tale of triumph and of +gratified revenge. + +His antagonist, a man of large and muscular proportions, was +apparelled as in the other picture, excepting that he had no mantle, +and was cased in back and breast armour of scaled steel. He had been +just disarmed; his sword, of formidable length, had flown above his +head; while a naked dagger lay on the ground under his left hand, +which hung lifeless by his side, and from a gaping wound in the wrist +issued a stream of blood. + +The sword-point of the young painter was buried in the throat of his +mailed opponent, whose livid hue and rayless eyeballs already +indicated that his wound was mortal. + +I was intently gazing upon these mysterious pictures when my friend +entered the saloon, and in reply to my eager inquiries, informed me +that the series of paintings around us portrayed some romantic family +incidents which had occurred in the sixteenth century; and that these +frescos had been designed by an able amateur artist, who was indeed +the hero of this romance of Italian life, and after whom this +apartment was still called the Saloon of Colonna. The late proprietor +of the villa, he continued, had mentioned some years since the +discovery of a manuscript in the library, which gave a detailed +account of the incidents on these pictured walls, and which, if we +could find it, would well reward the trouble of perusal. + +My curiosity received a fresh impulse from this intelligence. Telling +my friend that I would investigate his books while he visited his +tenants, I proceeded after breakfast to the library; and, after some +hours of fruitless search, I discovered, in a mass of worm-eaten +manuscripts, an untitled, but apparently connected narrative, which +forcibly arrested my attention by the romantic charm of the incidents, +the energy of the language, and the spirited criticisms on fine art +with which it was interwoven. The hero of the tale was an ardent and +imaginative Italian; at once a painter and an improvisatore; a man of +powerful and expansive intellect; and glowing with intense enthusiasm +for classic and ancient lore, and for the beautiful in art and +nature. The diction of this manuscript was, like the man it portrayed, +lofty and impassioned; and, when describing the rich landscapes of +Italy, or the wonders of human art which adorn that favoured region, +it occasionally rose into a sustained harmony, a rhythmical beauty and +balance, of which no modern language but that of Italy is susceptible. +Dipping at random through its pages, I saw with delight the name of +Colonna; and, ere long, discovered an animated description of the +singular scene portrayed in _La Scoperta_. + +On my friend's return in the evening, I held up the manuscript in +triumph as he approached; and, after a repast in the Colonna saloon, +F----i, who, although a Venetian, could read his native tongue with +Roman purity of accent, opened at my request the time-stained volume, +and read as follows. + + +CHAPTER I. + +On a bright May morning, in the year 1575, my gondola was gliding +under the guns of a Turkish frigate in the harbour of Venice, when she +fired a broadside in compliment to the Doge's marriage with the +Adriatic. The rolling of the stately vessel gave a sudden impulse to +the light vehicle in which I was then standing to obtain a better view +of the festivities around me; the unexpected and stunning report +deprived me for a moment of self-possession and balance, and I was +precipitated into the water. The encumbrance of a cloak rendered +swimming impracticable, and, after some vain attempts to remain on the +surface, I went down. When restored to consciousness, I found myself +in the gondola, supported by a young man, whose dripping garments told +me that I had been saved from untimely death by his courage and +promptitude. "Our bath has been a cold one," said he, addressing me +with a friendly and cheering smile. Too much exhausted to reply, I +could only grasp his hand with silent and expressive fervour. This +incident deprived the festival of all attraction; and, soon as I had +regained sufficient strength, the young stranger proposed that we +should return to the city for a change of dress. Still weak and +exhausted, I gladly assented to his proposal, and we left the +Bucentoro escorted by a thousand vessels, and saluted by the thunders +of innumerable cannon, proceeding to the open sea to celebrate the +high espousals. + +My companion left me at the portal of my father's palace. He refused +to enter it, nor would he reveal his name and residence; but he +embraced me cordially, and promised an early visit. During the +remainder of the day, I could not for a moment banish the image of my +unknown benefactor from my memory. It was obvious, from his accent, +that he was no Venetian. His language was the purest Tuscan, and +conveyed in a voice rich, deep, and impassioned, beyond any in my +experience. He was attired in the dark and homely garb of a student +in painting; but he was in the full bloom of youth, and his tall +figure was cast in the finest mould of manlike beauty. His raven +locks clustered round a lofty and capacious brow; his full dark +eyes sparkled with intelligence and fire; while his fresh and +finely-compressed lips indicated habits of decision and refinement, +and gave a nameless charm to all he uttered. His deportment was noble +and commanding; his step bounding and elastic; and there was an +impressive and startling vehemence, a fervour and impetuosity in every +look and gesture, which made me regard him as one of a new and almost +supernatural order of beings. My heart swelled with an aching and +uncontrollable impatience to see him again, which quickened every +pulse to feverish rapidity; my senses, however, were still confused +and giddy with long immersion in the water, and I endeavoured to +recruit my exhausted powers by repose. The evening found me more +tranquil, and I wandered forth to view the regatta on the grand canal. +These boat-races greatly contribute to form the skill and energy which +distinguish the Venetian mariners. Strength, dexterity, and ardour, +are indispensable to success in contending for the prizes; and the +eager competition of the candidates imparts an intense interest to +these festivities, which require only a Pindar to elevate them into +classical importance. The entire surface of the spacious canal was +foaming with the dash of oars, and resounding with the exuberant +gaiety of the Venetians; while the tapestried balconies of the +surrounding palaces were crowded with all the beauty and chivalry of +Venice; and the glittering windows reflected the rays of the setting +sun upon happy faces innumerable. + +Proceeding to the place of St Mark, I paced in a contemplative mood +over its surface until the day closed, and the night-breeze diffused a +delicious coolness. I looked into several of the taverns under the +arcades to observe the company assembled, and fancied that I discerned +in one of them the generous youth who had rescued me from such +imminent danger. Availing myself of Venetian privilege, I entered +without unmasking, and found my conjecture verified. This tavern was +the habitual resort of the artists resident in Venice, and the +assembled individuals appeared to be engaged in vehement controversy. + +Paul Veronese was addressing them as I entered. "Who," said he, "is +most competent to pass judgment upon a work of art? Certainly the man +who has accurately observed the appearances of nature, and who can +determine the limits of art. I despise the dotards who contend that a +man of taste and intellect must have been a dauber of canvass, before +he can decide upon the merits of a picture. The ludicrous certificate +of approval which the German horse-dealers chalked upon the bronze +horses of St Mark's, outweighed, in my estimation, a volume of +professional cant. Trained to a sound knowledge of their trade in the +studs of Germany, they felt and understood all the excellence of these +magnificent works of art. They recognised at once the noble character +of the animal, and even distinguished the peculiar attributes of each +individual horse. The superlative excellence of their heads, and the +fiery impatience of control which they exhibit, cannot be understood +or conveyed by mere perseverance in drawing. No painter, who resides +in the interior, can understand the merits of a sea-piece; nor can the +devout Fra Bartolomeo criticise a Venus of our venerable Titian so +well as any despot of the East who owns a seraglio." + +"True," replied another artist, whose full round tones and rich +emphasis bespoke him a Roman; "but taste is not intuitive; nor can it +be attained by merely studying the appearances of nature and the +theories of art. We must also explore the rich treasures of painting +which adorn and dignify our beautiful Italy. It is not enough, +however, to study a single specimen of each great master; we must +patiently and repeatedly examine his progressive improvements and his +various styles. By perseverance in this process, a young artist will +beneficially exercise his eye and his judgment, and will readily +distinguish the best pictures in a collection. Any degree of +discipline short of this will be inadequate to raise him above the +level of the mob, which followed in procession the Madonna of Cimabue, +and lauded it as the _ne plus ultra_ of art because they had never +seen anything better." + +The young stranger now addressed them with much animation: "I presume +not to decide," said he, "how far the last speaker is correct in his +opinions. The incessant noise on the piazza precludes any deliberate +consideration of the subject; but so far as I could collect the +subject of Maestro Paul's opinion, I understood him to insist upon +the necessity of knowing the limits of art. I trust he will pardon +so young an artist for uttering sentiments at variance with his own; +and that I shall not lose ground in his esteem if I contend that +every object in art is material, and that ideal forms and models of +excellence are absurdities. An Aspasia and a Phryne, youthful and +lovely, maybe elevated into a Pallas and a Venus by an able and +imaginative painter, whose excited fancy will readily improve upon +his models, and invest each feature, form, and attitude, with +classical and appropriate expression. But an ideal and perfectly +beautiful woman, destitute of every attribute arising from climate and +national peculiarities, is a phantom of the brain. And yet how many +common-place artists, who have consumed the most valuable portion of +their lives in drawing from plaster-casts, call these insufferably +vacant faces and forms genuine art, and affect to look down upon the +master-spirits who have immortalised themselves by matchless portraits +of the great men and beautiful women of their own times!" + +The parties soon after separated, and Paul Veronese left the tavern, +accompanied by the stranger. I followed, and observed them walking +round the piazza, and pausing occasionally to listen to the melodious +barcarolos, and sportive sallies of the gay Venetians. At the entrance +of the Merceria the youth saluted and left his companion, and I +promptly availed myself of the opportunity to unmask and approach him. +He immediately recognised me, and expressed himself gratified to +observe that my accident had been unattended with evil consequence. +I repeated warmly my acknowledgments, and assured him of my ardent +wish to prove my gratitude by rendering him any service in my power. +He appeared, however, rather disconcerted than pleased by these +professions, and exclaimed with some vehemence, "What have I done for +you that I would not readily have attempted for the lowest of human +beings? How many a wretch throws himself from a precipice into the +deep to bring up a paltry coin! I have been taught to think that +exaggerated praise for the performance of a mere act of duty has a +tendency to promote vanity and cowardice; and I predict the decay +of true heroism and public spirit from the growing practice of +commemorating trivial events and trivial men by statues, columns, +and inscriptions." + +"You may disclaim all merit," I replied; "but I cannot forget that, to +save the life of a stranger, you bounded from the lofty bulwark of a +frigate. I maintain that there is something god-like in the man who +hazards his life with such generous promptitude; and I think you +cannot but admit that gratitude is the strongest and most agreeable +tie which binds society together. Surely, then, if the fervent and +enthusiastic expression of it be a failing, it is an amiable one." + +He took my hand and gave me a look of cordial sympathy, but said +nothing in reply. I warmly urged him to pass the evening with me; he +assented, and we proceeded in a gondola up the grand canal to my +abode. During supper the conversation was gay and spirited, but +confined to generalities; and it was not until we were released from +the presence of menials that our ideas flowed with unrestrained +freedom and confidence. The government and state-policy of Venice were +passed in review; and my guest lauded the wisdom of the senate in +having embraced the first opportunity of concluding with honour the +arduous struggle they had maintained against the formidable power of +Turkey. He rejoiced that the Doge could again espouse the Adriatic +sea-nymph with all the accustomed display of pomp and power, and +remarked how essential to the safety and independence of Venice was +the uninterrupted annual celebration of a festival which fostered the +pride and courage of the people. + +"Our ancient bride," I replied, "has of late exhibited some ominous +symptoms of caprice and inconstancy. The ceremony should have taken +place two days since, but the wild goddess was restive and untameable, +and insulted the old Doge, her destined spouse, by rolling the bodies +of a dozen drowned wretches up the grand canal to the stairs of his +palace. Pope Alexander III., who exercised some influence over the +capricious fair one, is unfortunately no more; and Columbus, the hero +of whom Genoa proved herself so unworthy, has explored and subdued for +the princes of Castile the genuine Amphitrite, in comparison with whom +the bride of Venice is a mere nymph." + +"The destinies of Venice," he observed, with a touch of sarcasm in his +manner, "must be accomplished. She has reached, and probably passed, +the climax of her political greatness. Other nations, in the vigour of +youth, and possessing greater local advantages, have commenced their +maritime career, and this proud republic must submit to decline and +fall, as mightier states have done before her. Already I perceive +symptoms of unsoundness in her political institutions, of declining +energy and shallow policy in the conduct of her wars and negotiations. +If you could not preserve by resolute defence the Isle of Cyprus, +which has owned your sway for a century, you might have saved it by +the easy and obvious expedient of allowing the Sultan to receive at a +cheaper rate his annual supply of its delicious wines, and by refusing +to shelter in the harbour of Famaugusta the Christian corsairs who +capture the beauties destined for the seraglio. The sweet island of +Love is now lost for ever to the state of Venice, and its incomparable +wines become every year more rare and costly throughout Italy." + +The keen edge of his remarks touched me sensibly, and wounded all my +pride of birth and country. This revulsion of feeling did not escape +the quick perceptions of my guest: the recollection that he was +speaking thus unguardedly to the son of a Venetian senator seemed to +flash upon him, and he closed the discussion by remarking, with a +smile, that we were in Venice, that Venetian walls possessed the +faculty of hearing, and that there would be discretion in a change of +subject. I briefly assented to the necessity of being guarded in the +vicinity of Venetian domestics, who were occasionally agents of the +police; and, after a pause of recollection, he resumed. + +"It is time," said he, "that I should speak of myself and of my object +in Venice. I am a native of Florence, and a painter. Wearied and +disgusted with the skeletons of Florentine art, I came here to study +the flesh and blood of the Venetian school. The works of Titian +realise everything which is valuable and essential in the art of +painting, and the student who does not pursue the track of this great +master will never attain high rank as a painter. In Venice, the public +voice has supreme jurisdiction in matters of taste and fine art, +and the artists collectively exercise little influence on public +opinion. Titian fascinates all amateurs, and every artist admits his +incomparable excellence in the great essential of painting, which is +truth of colouring." + +"I am still too much a novice in the theories of your beautiful art," +I replied, "to contend this point with you; but you will pardon me if +I suggest the probability that you are disgusted with the severity of +the Tuscan school. Your abhorrence of the yoke you have escaped from +impels you to the other extreme, and your admiration of Venetian art +is heightened by contrasting the flesh and blood of Titian with the +bones and sinews of Michael Angelo. Nevertheless, I will hazard a +prediction, that instead of abandoning for ever the sound principles +of the Florentine school, you will eventually resume and abide by +them. Our graceful Titian is the prince of colourists, but it must be +admitted that his drawing seldom rises above mediocrity." + +"You must excuse me," he retorted with a smile, "if I doubt whether +your position can be maintained. I infer from the tendency of your +remarks that you consider drawing of primary importance. I admit that +drawing is essential to give truth and symmetry of proportion, and is +therefore a necessary evil; but a finished picture represents the +surfaces of things: surfaces are distinguishable only by colouring, +and therefore I maintain that colouring is the real object--the alpha +and omega--of art. To class drawing above painting, is to prefer the +scaffold to the building--the rude and early stages to the full and +rich maturity of art. What are the sharp and vigorous lines of Michael +Angelo but dreams and shadows, compared with the pure and exquisite +vitality of a head by Titian? Any beardless tyro may, by plodding +industry, produce a drawing as accurate, if not as free, as the +off-hand sketches of Raffaelle; but to delineate real life with its +exquisitely blended tints and demi-tints; its tender outlines, and +evanescent shades of character and expression,--to accomplish all this +by lines and angles is impossible. It requires the magic aid of +colouring, controlled by that deep and rare perception of the +beautiful, that wondrous harmony of intellect and feeling, which is +the immediate gift of heaven, and the proudest, highest attribute of +man." + +"I am by no means insensible to the charms of the Venetian school," I +rejoined; "and I admit, in many respects, the force of your reasoning. +It is, however, a question with me, whether the enthusiastic disciples +of Titian are not in danger of pursuing the material and perishable, +rather than the intellectual and permanent in painting. The glorious +colouring of this great master will fade under the action of time and +humidity, and betray his deficiencies in drawing; whereas the moral +grandeur of Michael Angelo's frescos, which derive no aid from colour, +will endure as long as the walls which they adorn. I would gladly hear +you contest this point with the Roman artist who addressed Maestro +Paul this evening at the tavern. I feel too much my own deficiency in +technical phrase and knowledge to vindicate my opinions successfully." + +"That Roman," said he, "is an intellectual and accomplished man, but +he wants a painter's eye, and should rather have devoted his time and +talents to literature. He has, however, pursued the fine arts +professionally, and he is eloquent and resolute in the defence of his +opinions: but the nature which he has studied is destitute of life and +colouring; it exists only in marble and plaster, and he would rather +copy the single and motionless attitude of an antique statue, than +study the fine forms and eloquent features with which Italy abounds. +He is, in short, a sedentary idler, who will not take the trouble to +read the great book of nature, and would rather fire at a wooden eagle +on a pole, than pursue the kingly bird amidst the wild scenery of the +Apennines. He assumed the unwarrantable liberty of severely censuring +Paul Veronese's grand picture of the 'Nuptials of Cana,' in the +presence of that noble artist. He objected to the insignificant +appearance of Jesus and his disciples, and to their position at the +table in the middle-ground of the picture. The painter introduced them +into this great work because their presence was indispensable; but he +avoided giving them any prominent position, conceiving it impossible +for any human artist to convey an adequate personification of our +glorious Redeemer. Moreover, they were but accessary to his real +object, which was to represent the busy crowd of guests, the banquet, +and the architecture. In these respects the artist has been eminently +successful. The painting abounds with harmony, and the incidents are +told with all the life and spirit of a Spanish novel. The most +prominent figures are musicians at a table in the foreground, +performing a concert upon elegant instruments. Paul Veronese is +leading with grace and spirit on the violin; Titian, the great ruler +of harmony, is performing on the violoncello; Bassano and Tintorett, +upon other instruments. They are painted with wonderful truth of +character and expression; they are magnificently attired; and their +personal appearance is eminently noble and dignified. Around the +bride's table are assembled the most distinguished personages of the +present age; all admirable portraits, and abounding with dramatic +expression. The atmosphere in the background is clear and transparent, +and exhibits in sharp and brilliant relief the Palladian magnificence +of the architecture; while the busy foreground is enriched with a +gorgeous display of vases and other materials of the banquet, adorned +with chasings of splendid and classical design. The light throughout +the foreground and middle distance is wonderfully natural, and clearly +develops the numerous groups and figures comprehended in this colossal +work. What man of sense and feeling can behold this wondrous +achievement of human art, and not long to feast his eyes upon it for +ever? + +"This fastidious Roman expressed also his annoyance at the inaccuracy +of the costume, in Paul's fine picture of the 'Family of Darius +presented to Alexander,' and lamented that so admirable a work should +have been blemished by this gross anachronism. You are, doubtless, +well acquainted with a painting which belongs to a branch of your +family. It may be truly called the triumph of colouring; and certainly +more harmony, splendour, and loveliness, never met together in one +picture. To these merits must be added the truth of character which +prevails in all the heads, most of which are portraits. Forget for a +moment that the incident is borrowed from ancient story; imagine it +the victory of a hero of the sixteenth century, and the painting +becomes, in all respects, a masterpiece. The architecture, in the +background, gives a tone to the whole; but it required the delicate +outlines and the exquisite perception of harmonious colouring which +distinguish Paul Veronese, to give relief and contrast to the figures +and draperies on so light a ground. The pyramidal group, formed by +anold man and four female figures, is superlatively lovely; the +countenances wonderfully expressive, and sparkling with animation. The +head of Alexander is beautiful, but deficient in masculine firmness, +and more adapted to charm the softer sex than to awe the world; while +the nobler features of Parmenia exhibit a strength of character finely +contrasted with the more feminine graces of the royal conqueror, and +his yellow drapery is admirably folded and coloured. How exquisitely +finished, too, is the long and beautifully braided flaxen hair of +the Persian Princesses! And what a host of figures in this noble +picture, most of them the size of life, as in the 'Nuptials of Cana!' +Certainly, this painting is nearly unrivalled in close fidelity to +nature; and in the truth and splendour of its colouring, it yields +only to that triumphant specimen of Venetian art in the Scuola della +Carita, Titian's 'Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple,' These +two pictures will long maintain their glorious supremacy, and will +probably never be surpassed. This painter's violation of costume is, +in fact, only a defect in the eyes of antiquarians. The great mass of +society overlook it, and care only for what gratifies the eye and the +imagination. Nevertheless I would recommend to artists generally the +avoidance of subjects borrowed from ancient history. It is far easier +to excel in the folds and colourings of modern drapery, than to +delineate the light garb and native elegance of Grecian forms. Nor +could any painters, but those who lived in the times of Pericles and +Aspasia, do justice to those most classical and graceful of all +subjects. Oh! how I burn with impatient ardour to behold the storied +isles and continent of Greece! Their ancient splendour is no more, but +their pure and temperate clime still develops the noblest specimens of +the human race." + +"Had our acquaintance commenced some years sooner," said I, +interrupting him, "I could have gratified your wish. I accompanied my +father, who went to Greece on a mission from the republic, and I +remained three years on the classic soil of Homer and Sophocles. I was +too young to make the most of my opportunities, but I succeeded in my +attempts to master the modern language, and at the same time greatly +improved my knowledge of ancient Greek." + +At these words my companion started impetuously from his chair, and +strained me in a vehement embrace. + +"Oh! rare and fortunate incident!" he exclaimed; "you are the +companion I have so long and vainly sought. A man so distinguished by +nobility of mind and person, and yet so young, it has never been my +good fortune to meet with. You will, you must be, the chosen friend of +my soul!" + +I could not but suspect that some mystery was involved in this abrupt +and somewhat premature tender of his friendship; but I returned his +embrace with grateful ardour. It was impossible to resist the +contagion of his impassioned and headlong feelings. I trembled with +emotion, and vainly endeavoured to express in connected language how +greatly I valued his good opinion. It was midnight when he left me, +promising a long and early visit on the succeeding day. + +I retired to bed in a state of excitement which banished sleep. To +subdue the vivid impression made upon me by the events of the day and +evening was impossible. I had, perhaps too unwarily, given a pledge of +fervent and enduring friendship to a man whose name and connections +were a mystery, and of whose character and previous life my ignorance +was absolute: but the singular charm of his language and deportment +was even enhanced by the obscurity which enveloped him, and I yielded +unresistingly to the spell in which he had bound me. + +I had never yet beheld the man whose tastes and pursuits assimilated +so entirely with my own. He was, however, incomparably my superior in +natural and acquired advantages. He possessed more variety, more +fulness and accuracy of knowledge, and he displayed a vigour and +opulence of language which often rose with the occasion into the lofty +and impassioned eloquence of poetry. His soul was more expansive and +liberal than mine, but at the same time more uncontrolled, rash, and +intemperate. He had doubtless those defects, which, in Italy, often +accompany an ardent and impetuous character; and, under strong +provocation, he would not hesitate probably to inflict an unsparing +and formidable revenge: but surely a generous heart and a commanding +intellect will redeem many failings, and even palliate those desperate +alternatives to which men of noble nature and of pure intention are +sometimes impelled by the defects of our social institutions. + + +CHAPTER II. + +At an early hour on the following morning I heard the emphatic tread +of the young painter in the corridor. In a moment he entered my +apartment, and his appearance renewed in some degree my emotion. "Our +feelings had too much of lyric riot in them last night," said he, +smiling; "such excitement is exhausting, and cannot be long sustained +without approximation to fever. I shall never learn moderation in my +attachments, but I am resolved to lower the expression of them to a +more temperate standard; and with this object I will, if agreeable to +you, endeavour to create occupation for our intellects as well as our +feelings." + +He then inquired if I had practised drawing, and to what extent. I +told him that I had been in the habit of sketching the fine lake and +mountain scenery of Lombardy; but that my ambition was to draw the +human figure from living models, which I regarded as the only avenue +by which any degree of excellence could be attained. + +"If you will accept of my assistance," he replied, "we can immediately +commence a course of elementary studies of the human figure; after +which," added he sportively, "you may employ me as a model. In return +for my instructions in painting, you must promote my ardent wish to +attain a competent knowledge of modern Greek. I have a sacred duty to +perform in one of the Greek islands, and shall proceed there in the +ensuing autumn." + +"We cannot effectually realise your suggestion," I rejoined, "unless +we abandon for a while the riot and revelry of Venice. My father is at +present in Dalmatia, and I am pledged to pass the summer in the +country with my excellent and respected mother, who is preparing for +departure, and will probably quit Venice at the close of the present +week. The villa we inhabit during the summer heats is in the most +charming district of Lombardy, and near the spot where the rapid +Mincio receives the pure waters of the lake of Garda. You must +accompany me to this earthly paradise, where we can enjoy the cool +breezes from the lake and mountains, and explore the bright scenery of +its classic shores and the peninsula of Sirmio, sung in glowing verse +by Catullus. There we can repose under the dark umbrage of orange and +myrtle groves, drink deep of the beauties of Pindar, and bind our +temples with wreaths of laurel. But I have not yet introduced you to +my mother. She is aware that a stranger saved me from a watery death +in the harbour, and will welcome gratefully the preserver of her only +son. She has a fine taste for pictures, and is an enthusiastic admirer +of beautiful Madonnas. If you will paint one for her private chapel, +and subdue in some measure the impetuous ardour of your deportment in +her presence, she will receive and cherish you as a son." + +While thus addressing him, I perceived a sudden contraction of his +fine features, indicative of strong internal emotion, the mystery of +which was not developed for a considerable period after this +conversation. At length he approached me, and, with a look of intense +interest, inquired how near my father's villa was to Peschiera on the +lake of Garda. "Within a league of it," I replied. Again he paced the +apartment in silent abstraction, when suddenly his eagle-eye was +lighted up with more than its wonted fire, and he exclaimed with +animation, "Agreed! I will accompany you to Lombardy, and should I +prove acceptable to your mother as a guest, I will paint a Madonna for +her chapel. On my discretion, and my respect for her habits and +feelings, you may rely." + +On the succeeding day I introduced him to my mother. The elegant +freedom of his address, and the spirit and originality of his +conversation, made an immediate and favourable impression upon +my beloved parent; and she afterwards acknowledged to me that, +independently of his noble exterior, and his powerful claim upon her +gratitude, she had never been so strongly prepossessed. It was on this +occasion that he named himself Colonna. Since his refusal to reveal +his name on the first day of our acquaintance, I had never repeated +the inquiry. Subsequently, however, I discovered that this appellation +had been assumed under circumstances of a disastrous and compulsory +nature. After his interview with my mother, I accompanied him to his +abode, where I was gratified with a view of the paintings and sketches +which he had executed in Venice. His figures were fresh and masterly; +his colouring had all the brilliant glow of the Venetian painters; +while his bold and beautiful designs betrayed, as I had anticipated, +the accurate drawing of the Tuscan school. His studies were from the +antique, and from Italian life: naked figures, or with little drapery; +female heads abounding with expression and loveliness; arms and legs, +backs and busts; naked boys, bathing, running, and wrestling. He +intimated that he had never yet painted for emolument, nor for the +gratification of others; and added, carelessly, "what farther concerns +me shall be revealed to you in our hours of leisure by the lake of +Garda." + +On the appointed morning we quitted Venice. Our bark issued from the +grand canal at an early hour, glided silently over the smooth surface +of the laguna, and approached the entrance of the Brenta. The sun was +rising in veiled and purple majesty through the soft mists of a +summer morning, and the towers and churches of Venice appeared +floating in thin vapour. Colonna ascended the deck, and, folding his +arms, gazed with evident emotion on the "City of Palaces," until it +disappeared behind a bank of fog. His chest heaved with some powerful +sympathy, and, for a moment, tears suffused his eyes and veiled their +brightness. His manner implied, I thought, some painful recollections, +or a presentiment that he should never behold Venice again. To me our +departure was a source of relief and enjoyment. In the winter season +Venice is a cheerful and desirable abode, because the population is +dense, and the local peculiarities contribute greatly to promote +public and private festivity: but, during the heats of summer and the +exhalations of autumn, no place is more offensive and pestilential. + +At Padua we separated from my mother, who proceeded with her domestics +by the direct road to Peschiera, while Colonna and I made a deviation +to Vicenza, whither we journeyed on foot; a mode of travelling the +most favourable to colloquial enjoyment, and to an accurate and +comprehensive view of the country. We found the numerous edifices of +Palladio in Vicenza and its vicinity in many respects unworthy of that +noble architect; many of them are indeed remodelled fronts of old +houses, in which the pure taste of the artist was warped by the want +of capability in the original elevations. The palaces built after +his designs are deficient in extent and variety, and may be termed +experimental models, rather than effective illustrations, of his +chaste and classical conceptions. In his triumphal arch at the +entrance of the Campo Marzo we found much to admire, and not less +in his beautiful bridge which spans the Bacchiglione. How bold, and +light, and elegant the arch, like the daring leap of a youthful +amazon! And how cheerful the open balustrade, through which the clear +and sparkling waters are seen rolling their rapid course to the +adjacent city! + +It is in Venice that the fine genius of Palladio develops all its +supremacy. The Cornaro palace on the grand canal, and the unfinished +convent of La Carita, are splendid efforts of pure taste in design and +decoration; and as perfect in execution and finish as if cast in +a mould. His churches too, especially that glorious edifice, Al +Redentore--how simple in design, and yet how beautifully effective +and harmonious in proportion and outline! + +We proceeded on the following morning to Verona, which excited a +stronger interest than Vicenza by its classical associations and +striking position on the river Adige, a lively daughter of the Alps. +Rushing from her mountain bed, she urges her rapid and devious course +through the city, dividing it into two portions, connected by the +bridge of Scaliger. This fine edifice rises on bold arches, wider, and +more heroic, and more scientific, than that of the Rialto, the wonder +of Venice, which is indeed no bridge, but a huge and inconvenient +staircase. + +Pursuing as we journeyed onward the subject of architecture, I +commented on the insignificant appearance of the temples of Pantheism, +when compared with the majestic cathedrals for which the Christian +world is indebted to the barbarians of the middle ages. + +"The Greeks and Romans," observed Colonna, "erected a temple to +each individual of their numerous deities. These buildings were +consequently of limited extent, and their columns of corresponding +proportions. The citizens sacrificed singly to the gods, or attended +public festivals, comprehending large masses of the people; in which +event the officiating priest or priestess entered the temple, and the +assembled votaries were grouped without. In our churches, on the +contrary, the population of a city is often congregated for hours; and +how magnificently adapted for this object is the vast and solemn +interior of a Gothic cathedral, in which the voice of the priest +reverberates like thunder, and the chorus of the people rises like a +mountain-gust, praising the great Father of all, and rousing the +affrighted conscience of the infidel; while the mighty organ, the +tyrant of music, rages like a hurricane, and rolls his deep floods +of sound in sublime accompaniment! How grand were the conceptions of +the rational barbarians, to whom Europe is indebted for these vast +and noble structures! And how immeasurably they surpass, for all +meditative and devotional objects, the modern application of Greek and +Roman temples, on an enlarged scale, to the purposes of Christian +worship! Had any necessity existed to borrow designs from these +sources, we should rather have modelled our churches from their +theatres, the plan of which is admirably fitted for oratorical +purposes, and for the accommodation of numbers." + +We accomplished the last portion of our journey during a night of +superlative beauty. A brilliant and nearly full moon glided with us +through long avenues of lofty elms, linked together by the clustering +tendrils of vines, festooned from tree to tree, and at this season +prodigal of foliage. The coruscations of distant lightning shot +through the clear darkness of Italian night; the moon and evening +star, and Sirius and Orion, soared above us in pure ether, and seemed +to approach our sphere like guardian spirits. The cool breezes which +usher in the dawn now began to whisper through the foliage; a light +vapour arose in the east; and the soft radiance of the first sunbeams +faintly illumined the horizon as we arrived at our destination. Here +the romantic lake of Garda lay expanded before us; its broad surface +ruffled by the mountain breeze, and gleaming like silver in the +moonlight. The waves were heaving in broken and foaming masses, and +reverberated along the rocky shores, finely illustrating the accuracy +of Virgil's descriptive line: + + "Fluctibus et fremitu assurgens marino." + +I retired immediately to rest, not having slept for the preceding +twenty-four hours; while Colonna preferred a morning walk, and +wandered out to view the environs. In the course of the day we +completed our domestic arrangements. My friend occupied a saloon on +the north side of the villa, which commanded an extensive prospect, a +light favourable for painting, and private egress into the open +country; an accommodation which he requested, that his rambling and +irregular habits might occasion no inconvenience to the other inmates +of the mansion. + +After a few days had been devoted to excursions upon and around the +lake, and over the picturesque hills as far as Brescia, we commenced a +more useful and methodical distribution of our time. Colonna began and +completed the sketch of a Madonna for my mother, that he might work +upon it at his leisure; and we read together the Greek poets and +historians: nor did I forget to avail myself of my friend's proffered +assistance to improve my knowledge of drawing and design. Under his +masterly guidance I persevered in drawing geometrical figures until I +could trace them with quickness, freedom, and accuracy. He then +annoyed me for a brief interval with skeletons and anatomical +subjects, directing my attention to the articulation of the joints and +the insertion of the muscles; after which I proceeded to copy his fine +studies of human limbs, both round and muscular, and in the various +attitudes of action and repose. Finally, I began to sketch from living +models, and was pursuing my object with ardour and success, when a +tragical event severed me for a considerable period from my beloved +tutor and friend. + +It had been arranged between us that each should, in his habits, be +perfectly uncontrolled, and independent of the other. Our excursions +were alternately separate, and in company, and Colonna was often +absent from the villa for one or more days and nights, without +exciting observation or surprise. + +He delighted in ranging over the green pastures of Lombardy, hedged in +by lofty trees, festooned with vines, and irrigated by transparent +streams innumerable. The young Tuscan had never before seen nature in +a garb so lovely and inviting; he wandered through the picturesque +villages which margin or overhang the lake of Garda, sojourned with +the peasantry, and sketched their figures and costume. From these +rambles he would often return at sunset over the lake in a small bark, +crowned like a youthful Bacchus with vine leaves and ivy, and singing +wild Dithirambics to his guitar, while the surrounding villagers, by +whom he was idolised, followed him in their boats with shouts of joy +and festivity. + +During the cool nights which, in this hilly region, temper the sickly +heat of an Italian summer, we often wandered along the breezy shores +of our classic Benacus, or sought refreshment in its dark blue waters. +Colonna was an adept in the delightful exercise of swimming, and his +instructions soon imparted to me requisite skill and self-possession. +We plunged from the marble terraces of the villa into the delicious +element, cleaving its moonlit waves, and sporting over its wide +surface like water-gods. + +The Madonna for my mother was finished in August. The artist had +selected the incident of the flight into Egypt, and the mother of +Jesus was reposing in deep shade, under the giant arms and dense +foliage of a maple tree. In the middle distance, a few ilex and +cypress trees were effectively and naturally distributed. The +background was mountain scenery; and from a lofty cliff a river was +precipitated, in a bold and picturesque fall. The waters rebounded +from the gulf below in silver spray, and flowed through a verdant +level into a tranquil and beautiful lake. The most romantic features +of the wilderness around the lake of Garda were faithfully and +beautifully introduced; and the brilliant rays of a sun approaching +the horizon, threw a flood of gold over rock, and wood, and water. The +Madonna was a young and lovely woman, giving nourishment to her +first-born son, and bending over her pleasing task with delighted +attention. The head of the Virgin was after a sketch from life, but +developed and elevated in character, and invested with a breathing +tenderness, a hallowed innocence and purity of expression, which at +once thrilled and saddened the beholder. The boy was a model of +infantine beauty; he supported himself with one little hand on his +mother's breast, which was partially veiled with red drapery, and he +had raised his cherub head and glossy curls from the sweet fount of +life, to look with bright and earnest gaze upon the glowing landscape. +The luxuriant brown hair of the Madonna was confined in a net, from +which a few locks had strayed over her brow and cheek; and her blue +mantle flowed with modest grace over her fine person, revealing, +through its light and well-distributed folds, the graceful and easy +position of the limbs. The eyes of both were radiantly bright, and in +the large, well-opened orbs of the infant Saviour, the painter had +introduced a something never seen in life--a premature and pathetic +seriousness, awfully indicative of his high and hallowed destiny. +Above the stately plane-tree were soaring three angels of more than +Grecian beauty; and their features, in which a sacred innocence of +look was blended with feminine grace and softness, reminded me +powerfully of that exquisite design in Raffaelle's pictorial +Bible--the "three angels before Abraham's threshold." + +In the middle-distance the ass was grazing, and Joseph, whose features +the artist had borrowed from the well-chiselled head of an old +peasant, stood leaning on his staff, like a faithful servant who has +succeeded in rescuing from imminent peril the treasure intrusted to +him. The picture was upright and on a large scale; the Madonna and +Bambino were painted the size of life, and the rich colouring of the +heads and draperies was finely relieved by the local tints and highly +finished bark and leafage of the plane-tree, behind which the immense +landscape receded in wide and brilliant perspective. + +My mother was inexpressibly delighted with this valuable token of his +regard, and her affection for the highly-gifted painter became truly +maternal. + +About this period I remarked a mysterious change in the looks and +habits of Colonna. His prompt and flowing language gave place to a +moody and oppressive silence; his deportment was occasionally more +abrupt and impassioned; and his eloquent features betrayed some hidden +source of grief and perplexity. The increased duration and frequency +of his rambles from the villa excited at length my attention and +remonstrance. In justification, he pleaded, as before, that he was a +man of itinerant habits, and too mercurial in temperament to remain +long in any place. This explanation had now, however, ceased to +be satisfactory. Our intercourse was obviously less cordial and +incessant. He had of late rarely sought my society in his excursions, +and this circumstance, in connection with his altered look and manner, +made me suspect some change in his feelings towards me. I determined +to solve a mystery so painful and embarrassing, and succeeded ere +long in obtaining his confession, during a still and beautiful night, +a large portion of which we passed together in a myrtle arbour, which +crowned a cool eminence in the villa gardens. We had passed some hours +in this delicious solitude, enjoying the pure night-breeze, and +admiring the soft and silver tints diffused by an Italian moon over +the lake and landscape. Our spirits were elevated by wine, and song, +and conversation; and our hearts communed together, and expanded into +more than usual freedom and confidence. I described to him the fair +objects of several fleeting attachments, and acknowledged that +my experience of female excellence had never yet realised the +expectations I had formed. "I anticipated from you, however," I +continued, "some illustrations of that wayward thing, the human heart. +A youth so ardent in feeling, and so adorned by nature and education, +must necessarily have had no limited experience of the tender passion; +and surely some of the beautiful heads in your portfolio have been +sketched from life, and _con amore_." + +"I do not willingly," he replied, "enter upon acknowledgments of this +nature. They tend to excite feelings of envy, and sometimes expose the +warmest friendship to a severe test. We have now, however, enjoyed +abundant opportunity to study the lights, and shades, and inmost +recesses of our respective characters, and as you have made me your +father-confessor, I shall no longer hesitate to repose in you a +responsive and unbounded confidence. Know, then, that I love, with all +the enthusiasm of a first passion, the most beautiful woman of her +time--that she is the only daughter of the proudest senator in +Venice--that she is no stranger to your family, and now resides within +a league of us. Her name is Laura Foscari; and she is, alas! the +destined and unwilling bride of the opulent Ercole Barozzo, governor +of Candia." + +At this unexpected intelligence, I almost started on my feet with +astonishment. My consternation was too great for utterance, and I +listened with breathless and eager attention. + +"We became acquainted," he continued, "by a singular accident. I had +long admired her as the most lovely woman in Venice. Her head has all +the beauty of a fine antique, lighted up by dark eyes of radiant +lustre, and heightened by a smile of magic power and sweetness. I have +more than once sketched her unrivalled features when she was kneeling +at church, and her fine eyes were upraised in devotional rapture. In +public places, and at mass, I had frequently seen her, and our eyes +had so often met, that she could not but learn from mine how fervently +I admired her. My endeavours to obtain an introduction as an artist to +her father and brothers had been unsuccessful, and at length I was +indebted to a fortunate incident for an opportunity of conversing +with her unobserved. One evening, near the close of the last Carnival, +I saw her enter with her friends the place of St Mark, near the new +church of San Geminiano. She wore only a half-mask, and her graceful +mien and fine person could not be disguised. My mask and domino were +similar to those of her youngest brother, who resembled me also +somewhat in person. The imperfect light and the confusion of the +assembled crowd separated her from her party; and while endeavouring +to rejoin them, she approached me, mistook me for her brother, put her +arm within mine, and with charming vivacity, whispered in my ear some +comments on the motley groups around us. You will readily conjecture +that I promptly availed myself of the brief and golden opportunity. I +glanced rapidly around, and finding that we were unobserved, I +partially raised my mask. She had so often observed me gazing upon her +with undisguised and rapturous admiration, that she recognised me at +once, and tacitly acknowledged it by a blush which suffused every +visible feature with crimson. In glowing and beautiful confusion she +attempted to withdraw her arm, but I retained it firmly, and in +low but emphatic tones, I told her that I had long loved her with +sincerity and ardour; that I could fairly boast of constancy and +discretion, of education and refinement; that no man so well +understood her value, or would encounter and endure so much to win +her affections. All this and more I poured into her ear with rapid and +glowing diction, and with the impassioned gesture which is natural to +me. Timid and irresolute, she accompanied me some paces, paused, and +in trembling emotion again attempted to withdraw her arm, but was +still urged forward by my impetuosity. At length, by a sudden effort, +she escaped; but, as she quitted, whispered with bewitching hesitation +and timidity--'_To-morrow morning, at Santi Giovanni e Paolo._' Soon +as these words fell on my delighted ear, I plunged into the crowd of +masks, in token of my discretion and prompt obedience to her will. The +emotion excited by this early and unexpected proof of sympathy was +so rapturous and overwhelming, that I abandoned myself to all the +extravagance of sudden bliss. I flew on wings of ecstasy along the +streets, bounded over the stairs of the Rialto, and reached my abode +in a state of mind bordering on delirium. During that interminable but +delicious night I neither sought nor wished for repose. I felt as if I +had never known sleep--as if I should never sleep again; and, when my +waking dreams occasionally yielded to brief and agitated slumber, my +excited feelings called up a flitting train of images not less vivid +and enchanting. + +"Long before the commencement of the early mass, I had reached the +church indicated by the beauteous Laura. I was the first to enter it, +and I waited her arrival with an impatience which no words can +describe. Never had the celebration of the mass appeared to me so +wearisome and monotonous; and, in hopes to subdue in some measure the +wild agitation which chafed me, I withdrew the curtain which veiled +Titian's divine picture of Pietro Martire, in which the saint lies +wounded and dying before his assassin. The companion of the prostrate +Pietro is endeavouring to escape a similar fate; and two angels, whose +features are not Italian but Greek, are soaring amidst the foliage, +environed with a heavenly lustre, which throws its bright effulgence +over the foreground of the immense landscape. What a masterpiece! How +full of animation and contrast! What rich and lively local tints in +the slender and graceful stems of the lofty chestnuts, which are +painted the size of nature! And how naturally the glorious landscape +fades into the blue and distant mountains! The half-naked murderer +has all the ferocity of a mountain bandit, in figure, attitude, and +menace; while the wounded saint exhibits in his pale and collapsed +features the dying agony of a good man, blended with a consciousness +that he has achieved the rewarding glories of martyrdom. + +"But no masterpiece could allay the glowing tumults of my soul, and +again I paced the church with feverish impatience. At length the +peerless Laura entered, and, alas, poor Titian! the charms of thy +creative pencil withered as she approached--the vivid splendours of +thy colouring faded before the paramount beauties of nature! She +was attired in the picturesque garb and head-dress of Venice; her +veil was raised; and her fine countenance, radiant with beauty and +intelligence, imparted life, dignity, and lustre to every surrounding +object. + +"She was accompanied by her mother, and after prostration before the +altar, they retired to their devotions in the body of the church. +I stood in a position which enabled me to observe every look and +gesture, and it did not escape me that Laura, while kneeling, cast a +look of supplication towards heaven, and sighed deeply. She soon +became conscious of my presence; and rising, she took a chair, and +fixed upon me a look so deeply penetrative, so fraught with tender +meaning, and yet so timidly, so truly modest, that every chord +of feeling in my frame was thrilled with sudden transport. To +uninterested observers her deportment was tranquil, but ere long I +could discern tokens of deep and anxious thought clouding her lovely +face. Her lips quivered as if in sympathy with some inward feeling of +doubt and apprehension, which at length subsided, and her angelic +features were suddenly irradiated with a tender and enchanting smile. +She then read for some time in her book, and marked a place in it with +a card, to which, by an expressive glance, she directed my attention. +The mass was concluded, the congregation quitted the church, and I +availed myself of the crowded portal to approach and take the card, +which she conveyed to me unperceived. I hastened from the spot, and +seized the first opportunity to read these words--'_Two hours after +midnight, at the postern near the canal._' The card said no more; but, +to a lover, it spoke volumes. + +"These magic words, and the enchantress who had penned them, absorbed +every thought and feeling throughout the never-ending day. In the +evening, I passed and repassed the Foscari palace, until the shape and +position of every door and window were engraven on my memory. I +provided myself with weapons, ordered my gondolier to hold himself +in readiness, and at midnight I proceeded to the Piazza near Maria +Formosa. Enveloped in my mantle, I traversed the pavement with +feverish impetuosity for two hours, which appeared like ages. The +course of nature seemed to stagnate, and the constellations to pause +in their career, as if in mockery of my feelings. I walked with +increased rapidity, and even vaulted into the air with childish +eagerness as if to grasp the heavenly bodies, and accelerate their +lingering progress. At length the last quarter struck. I hastened +through the silent and deserted streets, and strode over the bridges +with a bound as vehement as if I would have spurned them from under +me. I soon arrived at the appointed postern, and waited, all eye and +ear, in a contiguous angle of the wall. Ere long the door was gently +opened, and I heard the music of an angel's voice, bidding me enter +with noiseless steps, and beware of rousing her brothers, whose +violence would endanger my life. In obedient silence I followed her up +a dark staircase into a saloon adjoining the grand canal, and dimly +lighted by a single lamp. The enchanting Laura was attired in a white +robe of elegant simplicity, well fitted to display the perfect +symmetry and luxuriant fulness of her incomparable shape. Her head was +uncovered, and her waving tresses floated in rich profusion over her +shoulders and bosom. Thus unadorned, her beauty was so dazzling and +celestial, that I could have knelt and worshipped her as the Aphrodite +of the Adriatic Paphos. I gazed upon her until I became giddy with +admiration and rapture. Yielding to an irresistible impulse, I lost +all discretion--folded the lovely creature in my embrace--and +impressed a fervent kiss upon her coral lips. + +"'Unhand me, daring youth!' she exclaimed, her fine features flashing +with indignant eloquence as she repulsed me. 'Remember that I am +Foscari's daughter, and do me the justice to believe, that I have not +unadvisedly received you at an hour so unseemly. I was impelled to +this step not only by the regard due to your personal safety, but by +my implicit confidence in the honour of a cavalier. Think not, rash +youth! that a Foscari would condescend, like Bianca Capello, to an +obscure stranger. I know that you are not what you would seem. I know +that 'Colonna the painter' is but the outward shell which hides the +pearl and pride of the Florentine nobility. I have a friend in Venice +who is in confidential intercourse by letter with your aunt Veronica, +and from her I heard in secresy that the study of painting was not +your primary object in Venice, but assumed only to mask some more +important purpose.' + +"Mortified by the indiscretion of my aunt, and sensible of the fatal +consequences it might involve, I soon recovered some degree of +self-control, and apologised to the still offended Laura for the +inconsiderate freedom in which I had indulged. I then disclosed to her +some particulars of my previous history, and expressed, in ardent and +grateful terms my sense of the flattering distinction conferred upon +me by the loveliest woman in Venice. + +"'Ah, Montalto!' she replied, with glowing cheeks, and a look of +enchanting tenderness, 'you know not the dreadful risk to which my +wish to become better acquainted with your merits exposes me. I am +watched with jealous and unceasing vigilance by an ambitious father, +whose sole object is the aggrandisement of his sons; and to the +accomplishment of this purpose he will not hesitate to sacrifice an +only and affectionate daughter. Destined to become the unwilling +bride of heartless opulence, or to the living sepulture of a convent, +and formed, by an affectionate mother, for every social and domestic +relation, there have been moments when I wished it had pleased Heaven +to cast my lot in free and humble mediocrity. My affections were then +unappropriated----' + +"She paused in blushing and beautiful embarrassment, but soon +resumed:--'It would be affectation to deny that they are no longer so. +I must have been more than woman to have remarked, without some +responsive feeling, the obvious regard----' Here she paused anew, the +rose of sweet confusion dyed her cheek more deeply than before, and +after a momentary struggle, she continued, with averted looks: 'The +heroic cast and expression of your features, and the unembarrassed +ease and elegance of your deportment, bore the genuine stamp of +nobility by descent and education. The instinctive discrimination +peculiar to woman is often more accurate in its conclusions than the +boasted experience of man. Appearances taught me to suspect, that your +homely garb and professional pursuit were a delusion; and I heard with +more pleasure than surprise that my conjecture was well-founded.' + +"Such, my Angelo! was the ingenuous and flattering avowal of the +transcendent Laura Foscari, the pride of Venice, and paragon of her +sex. No words can portray the boundless gratitude and affection with +which she inspired me; nor will I attempt to describe the enchanting +grace and varied intelligence of her conversation during the brief and +delightful hour I remained with her. Too soon the breezes which +announce the dawn shook the windows of the saloon; a luminous streak +bordered the eastern sky; and Laura, starting suddenly from her chair, +bade me begone. + +"Thus terminated my first interview with this high-minded and +incomparable woman. To-morrow, should no obstacle intervene, I will +resume my narrative, and, at the same time, impart to you some +particulars of my family and early life." + +We then returned to the villa, and separated for the night. + + +CHAPTER III. + +If the opening of Colonna's confession had excited surprise and +emotion, the incidents detailed in his interesting narrative were a +fertile source of anxiety and dismay. The veil of mystery was indeed +raised, but the scene disclosed was haunted by menacing appearances; +and I looked forward to the future with indescribable solicitude. The +vehemence of Colonna's passions was alarming, and his impetuosity +would too probably betray him into formidable peril. After mature +consideration, however, I determined to rest my hopes of a happy +termination to these difficulties upon his clear intellect, and his +noble and generous heart. I mentally renewed my vow of everlasting +friendship, and pledged myself to assist and defend him to the +uttermost, under all circumstances of difficulty and peril. + +On the following day we were surprised by an unwelcome visit from the +brothers and destined husband of Laura. She had previously accompanied +her mother more than once in a morning visit to our villa; but I had +never surmised sympathy, nor even acquaintance, between her and +Colonna, so skilfully did they preserve appearances. When he spoke of +her, it was invariably in the language of an artist. He admired the +rare and absolute symmetry of her face and form, in which she +surpassed every woman he had seen. He even remarked, with well-assumed +professional enthusiasm, how much it was to be regretted that her rank +and education precluded the possibility of her benefiting the arts as +a model. He deemed the proportions of her figure as admirable as those +of the Grecian Venus at Florence; and her head, arms, and hands as +greatly superior. On farther retrospection, I recollected to have +observed a richer glow on the cheek of Laura, whenever the lute of +Colonna vibrated from the villa-gardens; or, when his thrilling and +seductive voice sang some tender aria to the guitar. + +The younger Foscari was fascinated by the appearance and conversation +of Colonna, and expressed a wish to see his paintings. The party +proceeded to his saloon, and readily acknowledged his fine taste, and +evident promise of high excellence. Barozzo alone, a man of large +stature, of haughty deportment, and of a repulsive and sinister +aspect, assumed the critic; and betrayed, by his uncouth remarks, an +utter ignorance of fine art. Colonna, however, with admirable +self-possession, preserved the unassuming deportment of a young +artist, ambitious of patronage; spoke of the extreme difficulty of +attaining excellence in his profession, and gravely complimented +Barozzo upon the accuracy of his judgment. The haughty senator was +gratified and won by an admission so flattering to his pride; and +condescended to request that Colonna would paint the portraits of his +bride and himself. The young painter bit his lip as he bowed his +acknowledgments; but expressed his high sense of the honour conferred, +and his conviction that the portraits, if successful, would powerfully +recommend him to the nobles of Venice, and prove a certain avenue to +fame and fortune. It was agreed that, on an early day, Colonna should +proceed with the requisite materials to the villa Foscari, and +commence the portrait of Laura; after which, the cavaliers mounted +their horses, and returned home. + +To prevent a similar interruption on the succeeding day from any other +quarter, I agreed with Colonna to rise with the sun, and proceed over +the lake into the mountains, with provisions for the day. We met at +early dawn; and the birds were caroling their morning hymn, as, with +expanded sail, our bark bounded lightly across the lake. Ere long we +saw the god of day peeping with golden brow above the ridge of Monte +Baldo; then, majestically advancing over the mountains near Verona, +he poured a flood of bright and glowing beauty over the immense +landscape. The water was partially concealed by the vapours of +morning, and mists of purple hue floated like regal canopies above +the cliffs, while a light breeze, rippling the centre of the lake, +dispersed its tranquil slumber, and roused it into life and beauty. +The peninsula of Sirmio lay basking in sunny radiance before us; and +the mountains beyond displayed the grandeur of their immeasurable +outline, varied by prominent and rugged masses, which were piled up in +chaos like Ossa on Pelion. The eastern sky was robed in vapours of +rosy tint; light clouds of pearly lustre floated in tranquil beauty +through the heavens; and the Alpine eagles were careering in joyous +and sweeping circles amid the pure ether. + +Certainly the lake of Garda displays a rare combination of the +beautiful and sublime. The shores abound in the wild and majestic, +in variety and beauty of local tints, and picturesque vicissitudes +of light and shade; while the olive-crowned Sirmio, like the +island-realm of a Calypso, reposes in regal pride upon the waters, +and seems to hold in vassalage the opposite shores and amphitheatre +of mountains. + +There have been some days in my existence which will ever be dear to +my memory, and this was one of them. It was a cool and delicious +morning in the beginning of October; my senses were refreshed with +sleep; I was awake to the calm and holy influences of nature; and I +anticipated the promised narrative of Colonna's early life with a +lively interest, which imparted new zest to every feeling, and new +beauty to the glowing landscape. It was still early when we landed +under the cliff, and availed ourselves of the dewy freshness of the +morning to ascend a rugged path, which conducted us to a sequestered +grove of beech and chestnut. From a crevice in the base of a rock, +feathered with flowering creepers, issued a limpid spring, which, +after dispensing coolness and verdure to the grove, rolled onward +with mild and soothing murmurs to the lower levels. Plunging our +wine-flasks into the pure element where it burst into life from the +parent rock, we extended ourselves on the soft grass, and dismissed +our boatmen, with orders to return at sunset. I then reminded Colonna +of his promise to reveal to me some particulars of his early fortunes; +and after a pause, during which his features were slightly convulsed, +as if by painful recollections, he thus began: + +"I am the sole survivor of one of the most illustrious families in +Florence. My father was Leone di Montalto; and my mother was of the +persecuted and noble race of the Albizi. They are both deceased; and I +remain a solitary mourner, their first and only child. My mother died +the day after my birth, and my father grieved for her long and +sincerely; but the lapse of years, and frequent absences from Florence +in the naval service of the state, healed his wounded spirit; and in +an evil hour he became deeply enamoured of Isabella, third daughter of +Cosmo de' Medici, the tyrant of unhappy Florence. She was the wife of +Paul Orsini, the Roman, who, without any formal repudiation, had +abandoned her, and resided entirely in Rome. This extraordinary woman +was distinguished throughout Italy for personal beauty and rare +intellectual accomplishment. Her conversation not only sparkled with +wit, grace, and vivacity, but was full of knowledge and originality; +and her great natural powers had been so highly cultivated, that she +conversed with fluency in French, Spanish, and even in Latin. She +performed with skill on various instruments--sang like a Siren, and +was an admirable improvisatrice. Thus highly gifted and adorned by +nature and education, she was the idol of Cosmo, and ruled his +court like a presiding goddess. Her time and her affections being +unoccupied, she did not discourage the attentions of my father, who +was one of the most elegant and accomplished men of his time, and +blended the grace of a courtier with the free and gallant bearing of a +distinguished commander. The dormant sensibilities of Isabella were +soon awakened by the enthusiastic fervour of his attachment; and their +secret intelligence had subsisted some time, when it was discovered +by the jealous and vindictive Cosmo. My unfortunate parent was +immediately arrested and imprisoned, but effected his escape, fled to +Venice, and from thence to the Levant. His estates were confiscated +under the pretext of treasonable practices; and I found a refuge and a +home under the roof of my widowed aunt, Veronica Della Torre. + +"The heartless and meretricious Isabella relinquished my father +without a sigh, or a struggle to save him, and consoled herself with +court-pageantry, and a succession of new lovers, many of whom +were sacrificed by her cunning and ruthless father. As a selfish +voluptuary, and the destroyer of his country's liberty, Cosmo has +been compared with Augustus; but in gratuitous and deliberate cruelty, +he far surpasses his prototype. + +"I was indebted to neglect and accident for the best of all XXXX +educations. My father loved and cherished me; but his domestic +calamity, his frequent absences from Florence, and, subsequently, +his pursuit of Isabella, interfered with the customary course of +education, and saved me from the despotism of a regular tutor, and +from the debasing tyranny, the selfish and vulgar profligacy, of those +institutions of monkery called public academies. + +"It was surely the intention of Providence that the faculties of early +life should not be strained by labours hostile to the healthful growth +of mind and body, and that the heart, the senses, and the principles +should alone be tutored in the first ten years of life. And yet how +egregiously has the folly of the creature perverted the benevolent +purpose of the Creator! With thoughtless, heartless indifference he +commits his tender offspring to the crushing tyranny of pedants and +task-masters, who rack and stupify the imperfect brain by vain +attempts to convey dead languages through a dead medium, and inflict +upon their helpless pupils the occult mysteries of grammar, which +is the philosophy of language, and intelligible only to ripened +faculties. Ask the youth who has toiled in prostration of spirit +through the joyless years of school existence in the preparatory +seminaries of Italy--bid him look back upon his tedious pilgrimage, +and weigh the scanty knowledge he has won against the abundant +miseries he has endured from the harsh discipline of monkish tutors, +and the selfish brutality of senior class-fellows! His pride may +prompt him to deny, but in honesty and fairness he must admit, that +the established system of education is radically vicious; that his +attainments are meagre and superficial; that his knowledge of the +world is selfishness and cunning; and that, to rise above the herd of +slaves and dunces, he must give himself a second and widely different +education; more liberal, comprehensive, and practical. + +"It was my happier fate to enjoy, until the age of ten, unbounded +liberty. I associated with boys of my own age, selecting for frequent +intercourse those most distinguished by strength of body, resource of +mind, and a lofty and determined spirit. I disdained to be outdone in +feats of bodily activity, and persevered with inflexible ardour until +I surpassed all my competitors in running, wrestling, and swimming, +and in every species of juvenile and daring exploit. + +"From my aunt, who was an accomplished and high-minded woman, I +learned to read and write, and gained with ease and pleasure a more +than elementary knowledge of history; and when I had attained the age +of twelve, my father, who was an able and distinguished commander, +took me for three years on board his galley, in frequent cruises +against the Corsairs. These voyages had a powerful and salutary +influence upon my habits and character; the daily contemplation of the +world of waters expanded and exalted my imagination; while the +enlightened converse and daily instructions of my noble father, the +regular discipline observed on board the galley, and occasional +exposure to danger in tempests or in contact with an enemy, induced +energy and concentration of thought, decision and promptitude +in action, contempt of fatigue and hardship, and a degree of +self-possession which no common dangers could either daunt or +disconcert. + +"At the age of fifteen I returned to Florence, abandoned all boyish +pursuits, and commenced a more regular and elaborate course of +education. I had accumulated a store of ideas and associations which +enabled me to apply my faculties with facility to every desirable +attainment. The transition from material objects to the world of +spirits is natural and easy. I had already investigated with deep +interest the histories of Greece and Rome; I now studied with ardour +and success the languages of those high-minded nations; and, ere long, +perused with insatiable delight the pages of those master-spirits +whose glorious names blaze like constellations through the dark night +of antiquity. + +"My early and ruling passion for the liberal arts, and especially for +painting and architecture, induced me to seek the instructions of +Giorgio Vasari. As an artist he had never produced an original design, +but he was an able teacher; and, notwithstanding his prejudices, he +was unquestionably a man of refined taste and extensive knowledge. The +garrulous old painter was delighted with the glow of my enthusiasm, +and failed not to fan the flame with abundant encouragement. + +"My indulgent father was induced, by the exuberant praises of Vasari, +to permit my devotion of some hours daily to his instructions; but the +year before his imprisonment and flight, he took the precaution to +introduce me to a literary circle, eminent for clearness of intellect, +and a sound and liberal philosophy. Intercourse with men of this class +modified, in a considerable degree, my habits and opinions; but it +could not for a moment weaken my devotion to that sublime art which +has ennobled modern Italy, and raised it from prostration and contempt +to moral dignity and grandeur. + +"Several years elapsed after my father's escape, without bringing us +any intelligence of his fate. This mysterious silence was a source of +intense anxiety. Florence was hateful to me, and my impatience to +rejoin my beloved parent became at length too vehement to be +controlled any longer by the remonstrances of my aunt. I keenly felt +all the injustice exercised by the tyrannous and reckless Cosmo +against my family, and my departure was accelerated by the intimation +from a friend at court that my proceedings were watched by the secret +agents of the usurper, and that any unguarded expression of political +discontent, would be the signal of my incarceration, and, too +probably, of banishment or death. I quitted Florence unobserved, +changed my name, and proceeded to Venice, intending, while I pursued +my inquiries after my father, to study the works of Titian, and to +avail myself of the instructions of Tintorett and Paul Veronese. The +latter honoured me with his friendship, and the venerable Titian +encouraged me to visit him. I succeeded in my endeavours to cheer, +with poetry and music, the declining spirits of the benevolent old +man. He became attached to me, and finding that I had a painter's eye, +he imparted to me some invaluable secrets of his art, a compliment the +more gratifying and important, because it opened to me a source of +honourable and independent provision, in case my paternal estate +should never be restored to me. + +"Last autumn I received intelligence from Florence that my father had +entered the service of your republic on his arrival in the Levant, and +had received the appointment of captain in the garrison of Candia, +under General Malatesta, a Florentine, whose son had been assassinated +by order of Cosmo, on the discovery of an intrigue between this youth +and his eldest daughter, Maria de' Medici. Nor did the hapless female +escape the vengeance of her cruel parent. Her death was premature, and +attended with circumstances which amounted to the clearest evidence +that she was poisoned by her monstrous and unnatural parent. I had +completed my preparations for departure, and waited only a change +of wind to sail for Candia, when I received from my aunt the +heart-rending communication that my father had shared the fate of +young Malatesta, and been assassinated some years since, at the +instigation of the ferocious Cosmo. This intelligence fell upon +my soul like a thunderbolt. The wound which my beloved father's +disappearance had inflicted on my happiness opened anew, and my +lacerated heart bled at every core. I vowed implacable hatred and +deadly vengeance against the prime mover and every subordinate agent +in this atrocious murder of my noble parent. He was a great and +admirable man, and I shall never cease to venerate his memory, and +lament his untimely death. For many months, life was an intolerable +burden to me, and I endured existence only in the hope of avenging +him. The cruel instigator, Cosmo, was, alas! equally beyond the reach +of my personal defiance and of my dagger. Hedged round by guards and +minions, and compelled by his infirmities to seclude himself within +the recesses of his palace, every attempt to approach him would have +been vain, and my youthful and unenjoyed existence would have been +sacrificed without an equivalent. Nor have I yet been able to trace +the agents of his bloody will; but my investigations have been +vigilant and unceasing, and revenge, although delayed, is ripening +over their heads." + +Here the noble youth was checked in his narrative by a sudden burst of +agony, which defied all disguise and control. Tears rolled in rapid +succession down his cheeks, and his manly chest heaved with the +audible sobs of bitter and deeply-seated anguish. Springing hastily +from the turf, he threw himself on the margin of the stream, and +immersed his face in its pure waters, to cool the fever of his burning +cheeks. Surely there is no sorrow like the sorrow of a resolute and +high-minded man. The sobs of woman in affliction awake our tenderest +sympathies, but they do not shake our souls like the audible anguish +of man. To see the iron frame of such a being as Colonna heaving with +loud and convulsive agony, was so truly appalling, that no time will +erase the deep impression from my memory. + +I respected his grief too much to interrupt it by premature attempts +at consolation; but when he arose, I embraced him in silent sympathy, +and endeavoured to direct the current of his thoughts from the bitter +past to a brighter future. I spoke of the advanced age and broken +constitution of the licentious Cosmo, and inferred, from the mild +and amiable character of his son, a speedy restoration to rank and +property. I dwelt upon his own pre-eminence in strength of mind, and +in every natural and acquired advantage; and I predicted that, in +defiance of adverse circumstances, he would, by his own unassisted +efforts, accomplish a high and brilliant destiny. I proposed to obtain +for him, through my father's influence, a naval command in the service +of Venice, or a powerful recommendation to the valiant Genoese, +Giovanni Doria. + +He thanked me, with a look full of eloquent meaning, but made no +comment on my proposal. After a brief pause, he subdued his emotion, +and exclaimed, with a melancholy smile,--"Happy Venetians and Genoese! +_Your_ liberties have not been basely destroyed by an individual +family, as those of Tuscany by the Medici. Your glorious republics +adorn the east and west of Italy with splendid achievements, while +Florence, once the pride and glory of our country, lies prostrate in +mourning and in slavery, betrayed and manacled by her unnatural sons!" + +I availed myself of this apostrophe to make some comments upon the +history of these distinguished republics, and insensibly drew Colonna +into a discussion which was prolonged until the increasing heat made +us sensible of the want of refreshment. The sun had reached the +meridian, and the centre of the lake below, still fretted by the +mountain breeze, was seething and glittering in the sunbeams, like a +huge cauldron of melted silver, while the smooth and crystal surface +near its shores reflected, like a mirror, projecting and receding +cliffs of every form and elevation, crowned with venerable trees, +and fringed with gay varieties of vegetable ornament. The timid +and transparent lizards darted playfully around us, and golden +beetles buzzed on heavy wings in the foliage above, while the light +grasshoppers chirped their multitudinous chorus of delight, and +myriads of gay and glittering insects held their jubilee in the +burning atmosphere. Amidst this universal carnival of nature, we +reclined in deep shade, soothed by the tinkling music of the stream, +and enjoying the dewy freshness which exhaled from its translucent +waters. The inspiring juice of the Cyprus grape, and a light repast, +rapidly recruited the strength and spirits of Colonna. Bounding +vigorously from the green turf, he gazed with delight through the +aged stems upon the bright landscape, and exclaimed, with glowing +enthusiasm,--"All-bounteous Providence! Creator of the glorious sun +and teeming earth! how supremely blest were thy creatures, did they +not embitter so much good by crime and folly!" + +After a brief pause of rapturous contemplation, we resumed our +wine-flasks, our cheerfulness rose into exhilaration, and we reposed +like sylvan deities in the green shade, enjoying the elasticity and +freshness of youthful existence, forgetful of the past and regardless +of the future. But this daydream was too delightful to last. I +recollected that I had not heard the sequel of Colonna's adventures +in Venice, and I broke the spell by whispering in his ear the name of +"Laura." + +"Alas!" he replied, with visible emotion, "I fear this incomparable +woman will never be mine, unless miracle or magic should interpose to +vanquish the many obstacles to our union. Our interviews in Venice +were attended with such imminent hazard of discovery, as to render +them brief and of rare occurrence. My adored Laura was in the morning +of life, and with the creative imagination of early youth, she +cherished sanguine hopes that the death of the infirm Cosmo would, ere +long, enable me to resume rank and property, and to demand her openly +of her father. Until then, my resources were merely adequate to my +personal support, being limited to a small maternal estate, left under +the friendly guardianship of my aunt. + +"Nevertheless, plans of elopement were frequently discussed, and I +vehemently urged her to become mine, and to accompany me to Greece, +from whence, after I had accomplished a momentous object, we could +embark for Marseilles, and proceed to Paris, where my skill as a +painter, in addition to my maternal estate, would preserve us from +indigence. As she did not peremptorily forbid me to expect her consent +to this scheme, I ventured to build upon it; but when my preparations +for flight were completed, her resolution failed, and I discovered, in +the deeply-rooted attachment of Laura to her mother, an insuperable +obstacle to the accomplishment of my purpose. For this kind and +indulgent parent her affection was all but idolatrous; and when she +told me, with tearful eyes and throbbing bosom, that her beloved +mother was in precarious health, that she was entirely dependent on +her only daughter for earthly happiness, and that the loss of that +daughter would destroy her, I must have been dead to every generous +and disinterested feeling had I not complied with her earnest +entreaty, that we should await a more favourable course of events. + +"Meanwhile the distinguished beauty and numberless graces of Laura +attracted many suitors. Some of these were not ineligible, and one of +them especially, young Contarini--whose passion for her was ardent, +almost to frenzy--was a man of noble qualities, of prepossessing +exterior, and of equal rank, but, as you well know, too moderately +endowed with the gifts of fortune. Every proposal was, however, +promptly rejected by the ambitious Foscari, who, like a cold and +calculating trader, measured the merits of each suitor by the extent +of his possessions. At length, after the conclusion of the war with +Turkey in the spring, arrived from Greece the governor of Candia, +Ercole Barozzo, whose splendid establishment and lavish expenditure +attracted universal attention. His originally large possessions had +been swelled into princely opulence by clandestine traffic with the +enemy, and by every species of cruelty and exaction. His wife and two +infant sons had fallen victims to the plague in the Levant; and being +desirous of children to inherit his vast possessions, he surveyed +the fair daughters of Venice, and was quickly fascinated by the +superlative beauty of Laura Foscari, who shone unrivalled in a city +distinguished for the beauty of the softer sex. Barozzo was not a +suitor to be rejected by her sordid father; and, without any appeal to +his daughter's inclinations, her hand was promised to a man of more +than twice her age, forbidding in his exterior, coarse and revolting +in his manners, and utterly destitute of redeeming qualities. I had +determined, before my acquaintance with you commenced, to make +occasional visits during the summer to Peschiera, and I hesitated to +accept your proposal, from an apprehension that it would impede my +interviews with Laura. On farther consideration, however, I perceived +that my abode under your roof would not be incompatible with nocturnal +visits to the Villa Foscari, and I became your guest. My interviews +with Laura have been more frequent in this quiet and rural district, +than in the narrow streets and numerous obstacles of Venice. The +wide extent of her father's garden enables me to scale the wall +unperceived, and to reach a garden saloon communicating by a covered +trellice walk with the villa. Laura's abhorrence of the presuming and +insolent Barozzo has proved a powerful auxiliary to my renewed +entreaties that she would fly with me from the miseries which menace +her, and I have recently succeeded in obtaining her reluctant consent +to accompany me to Genoa, and from thence to Greece. A fortnight hence +is appointed for the celebration of her marriage to the wretch who +basely wooes her, with a consciousness of her unqualified antipathy to +his person and character. If the strong attachment of Laura to her +mother does not again baffle my hopes, we shall effect our escape +three days before the one appointed for her marriage with Barozzo; but +I can discern too well, through her invincible dejection, that she is +still balancing the dreadful alternatives of a marriage abhorrent to +her feelings, and the abandonment of her mother." + +Such was the tale of Colonna's brief, but trying and calamitous +career. Deeply as I lamented his approaching departure, I felt too +much interested in his success to withhold my active co-operation, and +I pledged myself to promote his views as far as I could, without +openly compromising myself with the Foscari family; but I entreated +him to relinquish his design of painting the portraits of Laura +and Barozzo, from an apprehension that a lover so fervent and +demonstrative would, in some unguarded moment, excite suspicion, and +frustrate the accomplishment of his ultimate views. He thanked me for +the ready zeal with which I had entered into his feelings, and assured +me that he had no intention of proceeding beyond the outlines of the +governor's portrait; but that, as a lover and an artist, he could not +deny himself the gratification of portraying the matchless form and +features of the woman he adored. + +The day was declining when we quitted our cool retreat to ascend the +mountain behind us, and inhale the pure breezes which played around +its summit. We gazed with long and lingering delight upon the bright +landscapes of Lombardy, as they glowed beneath us in the parting +sunbeams, and the shades of night were fast falling around us when we +crossed the lake on our return to the villa. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Early on the following morning, the younger brother of Laura called to +request the promised attendance of Colonna at the Villa Foscari, and I +determined to accompany him, hoping, by my presence, to remind the +young painter of the necessity of exercising a vigilant control over +his feelings. The precaution was, however, unnecessary. He sustained, +with singular self-mastery, the demeanour of an artist and a stranger; +and appeared, while sketching the form and features of his lovely +mistress, to have no other object than to seize the most important and +characteristic peculiarities of his model. He requested that she would +occasionally walk round the saloon, and freely indulge in familiar +converse with her friends, as if no artist were present. His object +was, he added, to accomplish, not a tame and lifeless copy, but a +portrait, stamped with those peculiar attributes and graces which are +best elicited by a free and unconstrained movement of limb and +feature. + +Thus admirably did he mask the lover, and assume the look and language +of an artist ambitious to recommend himself to opulent employers. + +The sensitive and unhappy Laura had less command over her feelings, +and I could occasionally observe a furtive glance beaming from her +dark and humid eye upon the elegant painter; but when she addressed +him, it was with the air and language of condescension to one whose +services might be purchased; thus endeavouring to disguise the strong +and almost irrepressible emotion which quivered beneath the surface. + +Her mother never quitted her during the sitting; Barozzo and the +Foscari visited the saloon occasionally; and I remained to control +the lover, and, at the same time, to improve myself by observing +the artist. The fine lineaments of Laura were too deeply engraven on +the heart of Colonna to render frequent sittings essential; and, +in compliance with my remonstrances, he abridged them as much as +possible. After the second sitting he told her that he should not +again require her presence until he had completed the portrait, when +some finishing detail might be requisite. He devoted a large portion +of the five following days to a task so soothing to his feelings; and, +on the morning of the sixth day, astonished the assembled family by +producing a highly-finished and admirable resemblance. + +The charming subject of his portrait was painted the size of life, +and attired in a light morning robe of green silk. The full and +elegant symmetry of her form was indicated through the graceful folds, +which fell around her like the richest sculpture. She stood in a +contemplative attitude, leaning, like some heavenly muse, upon a +golden tripod of chaste and classical design. High intelligence +adorned with its imperishable beauty her fair and lofty forehead. Her +large dark eyes, which beamed through their long fringes with soft and +melting lustre, were gazing as if into futurity, and their tender and +eloquent expression went to the soul of the observer. The finely +moulded oval of her cheek glowed with the roseate hues of life, and +the pearly lustre of the neck and arms was surpassed only by the +clear and brilliant fairness of the lovely original, while in the +beautifully curved lips, Colonna had introduced a slight compression, +indicative of that heroic firmness in the character of Laura, which +had not escaped his penetration, but did not, until a later period, +fully develop itself. + +The scene was a garden saloon, and through an open window an extensive +view over the lake of Garda arrested with magic power the eye of every +beholder. Sirmio appeared like a woody island in the middle distance, +and beyond the lake rose an amphitheatre of mountains, surmounted by +the distant summits of the Tyrolese Alps. There was in this admirable +portrait all the charm and witchery of life. It possessed much of +the dignity, and ease, and harmonious colouring of Titian; and the +exquisite blending and management of the tints betrayed the favourite +pupil of Paul Veronese, whom indeed he surpassed in the natural +folding and classical distribution of draperies, and fully equalled in +the force of light and shade, which makes the portraits of that able +master appear to stand out from the canvass. + +The next day was devoted to the finishing of some details in the +portrait of Laura; and on the succeeding morning I accompanied Colonna +to the apartment of Barozzo, who was desirous that his portrait should +be completed before his marriage. The artist fixed upon the haughty +governor that firm gaze of his dark and piercing eye, and proceeded to +pencil the outlines of his stern and massive features. After the lapse +of a few minutes, he remarked to Barozzo, that he had never seen a +countenance, the character of which he found so difficult to trace to +its primitive elements. "The lineaments of mature age," he continued, +"are hard and inflexible, and when the eloquent play and pliancy of +youthful feelings have left the features, it is impossible, without +frequent intercourse, to detect the peculiarities and secret recesses +of character with sufficient accuracy to give force and truth to a +portrait." He conceived that to accomplish the perfect delineation of +a man of middle age and of distinguished rank, a painter should not +only share his society, but know the history of his life, and study +the lights and shades of his character. It was thus that Raffaelle +succeeded in conveying to the portraits of Julius II., Leo X., and +their Cardinals, such intellectual dignity, such truth and grandeur of +expression. He doubted, nevertheless, whether any artist could achieve +a perfect portrait of a man of high station if he did not rise above +his employer, not only in imaginative power, but in strength of mind +and penetration into character. + +The riveted and searching looks, which from time to time accompanied +this singular and equivocal strain of compliment, appeared greatly to +perplex and annoy the haughty Barozzo. His tawny visage was dyed with +the dusky red of some strong inward emotion, which I was eager but +unable to interpret. This suffusion was soon succeeded by an ashy +paleness, and suddenly he quitted his chair and walked to the window. + +During this ominous and unaccountable interruption, I gave Colonna a +warning glance. He composed his excited features into tranquillity; +and after a long pause, of which I endeavoured to disguise the +embarrassment by some comments on the Venetian school of painting, +Barozzo returned from the window and resumed his seat. Colonna seized +his pencil, and proceeded to sketch the outline of the governor's +figure, during which process I observed in his looks nothing beyond +the earnest gaze of a portrait-painter. For some time Barozzo avoided +the encounter; but at length, as if controlled by some secret and +irresistible fascination, his eyes again met those of the young +artist. The effect of this collision was mysterious and startling. The +brilliant orbs of Colonna gradually assumed a stern and indignant +expression, and darted their searching beams upon the governor, as if +to pierce the inmost recesses of his soul. The dull grey eyes of the +again agitated Barozzo quailed and fell under this intolerable +scrutiny; his sallow visage was suffused with a ghastly yellow; again +he glanced in terror at the artist, and then half rose from his chair +in undisguised consternation. Controlling, however, with sudden effort +his agitation, he resumed his seat, and, with averted looks and +seeming indifference, inquired if Colonna had resided long in Venice. +The painter filled his brush, and answered carelessly, that he had +lived there a few months. + +"Your accent is Tuscan," continued Barozzo. "Are you a native of +Florence?" + +"I am," replied the painter, seemingly intent upon his employment. + +"Do your parents reside there?" resumed the other, with rising +emphasis. + +"Parents!" exclaimed Colonna, with a keen glance at the inquisitive +governor; "I have none! They are dead!" + +"Who and what was your father?" demanded Barozzo imperiously. + +This inquiry and its peremptory tone exhausted the patience of +Colonna. Dashing the paint out of his brush, he fixed a look of +startling fierceness on Barozzo, and answered, with marked and bitter +emphasis,--"He was a sword-cutler, and made excellent blades." + +At this critical moment Laura entered the room with her mother to +observe the progress of Barozzo's portrait. Casting a hasty glance at +the imperfect sketch, she remarked that it did not at all realise her +expectations. The painter replied, that he should have succeeded +better if he had enjoyed the honour of a longer acquaintance with the +governor. "It is immaterial," exclaimed Barozzo, who had fully +regained his self-possession. "We shall ere long become better known +to each other, and you may finish my portrait at Venice in the course +of the ensuing winter." + +"As your excellency pleases," replied Colonna, and removed the canvass +from the easel. The ladies now quitted the saloon with the governor; +and, soon as the door was closed, the artist defaced the ill-fated +portrait with a blow of his fist, packed up his drawing materials for +removal, and accompanied me home. + +Conceiving that the portentous agitation of Barozzo had grown out of +some incipient feelings of jealousy and suspicion, I remonstrated with +Colonna, during our walk, on the gratuitous imprudence of his +deportment, and pointed out the personal danger he had incurred by +thus taunting a man so powerful and irritable as the governor of +Candia. I urged him to accelerate his flight, and, meanwhile, never to +leave the villa unarmed. + +In reply, however, he expressed his conviction that the sudden change +of countenance and colour in Barozzo did not originate in jealousy, +and that a man so imperious and overbearing would have betrayed this +spirit-stirring passion in a manner widely different. "No, Pisani!" he +continued, in a voice quivering with emotion; "my suspicions go +farther. The springs of this man's actions lie deep, and a prophetic +spirit tells me that he is not innocent of my noble father's murder. +Until this morning, he deigned not to bestow more than a superficial +glance upon the features of an obscure artist in homely apparel, but +when our eyes met, in keen and unavoidable collision, the resemblance +I bear to my deceased parent flashed upon his guilty soul; and from +his sudden and uncontrollable emotion, I cannot but infer his +participation in the crimes of Cosmo. Inference, you will say, is no +proof; but it gives me a clue which I will track until I reach +conviction. It is the intention of Laura, who cannot resolve to quit +her mother, to retard for a considerable period the celebration of her +marriage, by feigned paroxysms of indisposition. I will avail myself +of this delay to bring home to Barozzo the evidence of his guilt, and +defy him to mortal combat; or, should he shrink from it, I will treat +him as a savage and noxious animal, and hunt him to death." + +I could not but admit that there was some ground for the suspicions of +Colonna; but, from an apprehension of rousing his whirlwind passions +into premature activity, I concealed from him my knowledge that, +before the departure of Barozzo for Candia, he had passed some +weeks at Florence, where his congenial disposition had powerfully +recommended him to the good graces of Cosmo. They were in habits +of daily intercourse, and Barozzo was not the man who would, from +honourable feeling, decline to forward the murderous views of the +implacable ruler of Tuscany. + +From this eventful day Colonna was an altered man. Revenge became the +ruling passion of his soul; and while he awaited with gnawing +impatience the long-expected letters from his friends in Florence and +Candia, he seemed to find no relief from the feverish rage which fired +his blood, and wasted his fine form, but in the bodily fatigue of +daily and nightly rambles in the mountains. + +It was the design of Laura to assume the appearance of sudden and +violent illness on the day before her intended marriage, and to +sustain the deception, by occasional relapses, for months, or even +years, should the governor's patience endure so long. But the +probability was, that a man, advancing towards the autumn of life, and +determined to marry, would rather recede from his engagement and seek +another mate, than run the risk of such indefinite delay. The spirit +and address of Laura Foscari were fully equal to the deep game she had +determined to play. She purposed to assist the deception by staining +her fair face with an artificial and sickly hue; and she found an +effective auxiliary in her mother, who thought the brutal Barozzo +utterly unworthy to win and wear so bright a jewel as her angelic +daughter. These expedients were, however, rendered unnecessary by the +bloody catastrophes which were now at hand. + +Three days before the appointed celebration of the marriage, I was +reading, near midnight, in my chamber, when Colonna entered, with +vehement and hasty strides. His large eyes glittered with terrific +energy; his forehead streamed with perspiration; his dress and hair +were in wild disorder, and his hands were dyed with blood. He said not +a word, but paced the apartment for some time with rapidity. His +deportment was that of a man whose rage had risen above his control, +and overwhelmed all power of articulation. I awaited in silent and +wondering sympathy the termination of emotions so tempestuous. At +length, seating himself opposite to me, he struck the table vehemently +with his clenched hand, and after some vain attempts to speak, +exclaimed, in hoarse and hurried tones, which gave an appalling force +to his expressions--"Pisani! all doubt is at an end--I have this night +obtained conclusive evidence of Barozzo's guilt. I have sworn to +avenge my noble father's wrongs in the traitor's blood--and to-morrow +he must face me in fair combat, or feel my dagger in his craven heart. +The alternative will hinge upon your friendly agency--but of that +hereafter.--About three hours since I reached the heights beyond the +lake. Exhausted with a long and toilsome ramble, I threw myself +beneath our favourite beech, and was soon lulled by the rippling +waters into brief and agitated slumber. My sleep was haunted by a +succession of fearful forms and painful incidents, which at length +assumed a shape distinctly and horribly significant. Methought I lay +upon the summit of a cliff, close to the sloping brink, and gazed into +a gulf too deep and dark for human eye to fathom. Suddenly the immense +void was illumined by sheets of vivid lightning--a monstrous peal of +thunder broke upon my ear--and a colossal form, lengthened and scaly +as a serpent, rose like the demon of the storm, approached the edge of +the precipice, and brought his horrid visage to the level of mine. +Again the lightning flashed, and I distinguished the assassin features +of Barozzo, expanded into horrible and revolting magnitude. Eyes, +lurid and menacing as meteors, glared upon me with a malignant scowl, +and huge lips, parted in a fiendish grin, disclosed an array of fangs, +pointed and glittering as poniards. He extended two gaunt and bony +hands, stained, methought, with my father's blood, and tried to seize +and drag me into the gulf. While writhing to escape the monster's +grasp the thunder again rolled through the abyss; the cliff beneath me +reeled from its foundations, the brink began to crumble, and my +destruction appeared inevitable--when, suddenly, the strains of sweet +and solemn music floated round me--the demon vanished, and I beheld +the pale phantom of my murdered father, extending towards me his +protecting arms. At this moment of intense excitement, the spell which +bound me was dissolved--I awoke, and saw by the brilliant moonlight a +tall figure, enveloped in a mantle, approaching me in stealthy +silence. Gazing more intently, I discovered a dagger in his grasp. In +an instant I was on my feet--the figure rushed forward, but ere he +could reach me, I stood behind the tree, and thus gained time to level +a pistol at his head. Seeing me thus prepared, the villain retreated +hastily, but escaped not the bullet, which my unerring weapon buried +in his back. He reeled and fell; and his life-blood was ebbing fast, +when I stooped to examine his features. Raising the slouched hat which +concealed his face, I immediately recognised a handsome Greek, +attached to the retinue of Barozzo. I had occasionally seen this man +in a tavern at Peschiera. His demeanour was fierce and repulsive, but +my eagerness to learn some particulars of my father's untimely death +in Candia prompted me to cultivate his acquaintance, and I played with +him the game of Morra, forgave his losses, and paid for his wine. +Whether the remembrance of this kindness excited his compunction, or +whether he wished to atone for his past offences, I know not, but he +thus addressed me in broken accents: + +"'Son of Montalto! a just retribution has overtaken me. My necessities +sold me to the savage Barozzo. _He_ hired the dagger which pierced thy +noble father, and the same weapon would have destroyed thee had not +thy better fortune interposed. Listen to the counsel of a dying man. +Beware of Barozzo! He has a long grasp, and will not spare thy young +life. Fly, without delay, or thy destruction is inevitable!' + +"Here his voice failed him; a convulsive tremor shook his frame; he +became motionless, and apparently lifeless. But Greeks are cunning to +a proverb, and as it was of vital moment to conceal from the governor +the failure of his murderous design, I struck the assassin's dagger +deep into his heart, and rolled him down the slope of a contiguous +ravine. I now recollected that Barozzo had twenty Greek bloodhounds +carousing in the taverns of Peschiera, and thinking it too probable +that he had commissioned more than one of them to hunt me down, I +crossed the lake, to devise with you the means to detach this demon +from his myrmidons, and force him into single combat. I have bound +myself, by all that is most sacred, to destroy him, or to perish in +the attempt; and should no fair and open avenue to vengeance offer, I +will stab him at Foscari's table, or even rend him limb from limb at +Laura's feet. And now, my Angelo! I conjure you by our bond of +friendship, by every generous feeling in your nature, to lend me that +aid, without which I shall be driven to the desperate and ignoble +alternative of assassination. You know well that it would be in vain +to summon the governor of Candia to a personal encounter. He is a +veteran soldier of established reputation, and he knows that he need +not fight to maintain it; nor will a man who has reached the summit +of opulence and distinction descend from his vantage-ground, and risk +the loss of so much earthly good in mortal combat with the proscribed +and desperate son of Montalto." + +To this tale of visionary and real horrors, heightened and dramatised +by the indignant eloquence of Colonna, I listened with intense +interest, and my abhorrence of the monstrous cruelty of Barozzo +swelled into active sympathy and a firm resolve to second, at all +hazards, the just vengeance of this noble and deeply-injured youth. I +felt also the necessity of immediate interference to save his life. +The governor was evidently fearful of the retribution so justly due to +his unparalleled atrocity, and he had, moreover, been galled to the +quick by the taunting deportment of the young artist while sitting for +his portrait. He would soon suspect the failure of his first attempt +upon the life of Colonna, and would inevitably follow up his base +design by employing the numerous daggers in his pay. The hatred of the +young Florentine was deadly and implacable, and his determination to +sacrifice this mortal foe of his family spurned all control, and raged +like a tempest; but his impetuosity would prevent the accomplishment +of his object, and too probably betray him into the toils of his cool +and crafty enemy, who never quitted the Villa Foscari without one or +more well-armed attendants. From an affectation, too, of military +display, or probably from a consciousness that he had many personal +enemies, the governor wore at all times a corselet of scaled armour, +composed of the light, well-tempered Spanish steel, which resists the +point of sword or dagger. Had I wished to save the life of this +lawless pander to the cruelty of Cosmo, I saw no expedient which +would not expose my valued friend to imminent and deadly peril; and +could I for a moment hesitate between the chivalrous, the princely +Colonna, so unrivalled in form and feature, so elevated and pure in +sentiment, so eminently fitted, by his high intelligence, his glowing +diction, and his kindling, all-impelling energies, to rouse a better, +higher, nobler spirit, in all who came within the sphere of his +activity--could I pause an instant between this first of nature's +nobles and the base Barozzo, who, inaccessible to pity, and fortified +against all compunction by years of crime, had, unprovoked, and with +the malice of a demon, destroyed the best and bravest of the sons of +Florence? + +With prompt and ardent enthusiasm, I assured him of my devotion to +his cause, and unfolded to him a stratagem, which my knowledge +of the surrounding country, and of the habits of Barozzo, had +readily suggested. During the frequent absence of Colonna, I had +occasionally joined the governor in his equestrian excursions, and, +from neighbourly feeling to the senator Foscari, had escorted his +guest to the most picturesque scenery of this romantic district. His +rides were daily, and at the same hour. I proposed to join him as +usual, and to lead him into a narrow and unfrequented defile in the +mountains, which rise from the lake about three leagues from Peschiera. +Colonna might there await and force him into personal encounter, while +I would act as umpire, and prevent any interference from the Greek +escort of the wary chieftain. At this proposal Colonna eagerly +approached, and embraced me with grateful rapture. His dark eye +kindled with its wonted fire; his pallid cheeks were flushed; the +settled gloom, which had so long clouded his fine features, vanished +like mists before the sun, and was succeeded by a radiant and exulting +energy, eloquently expressive of his conviction that the hope on which +he had lived so long--the hope of just revenge--would now be realised. + +I urged him to seek, in immediate repose, the restoration of his +exhausted strength, and undertook to provide him with a managed horse, +armour, and weapons, which should place him upon a level with his +mailed and well-mounted antagonist. Horse and armour, however, he +promptly declined. He would find an expedient, he said, to compel +Barozzo to fight him foot to foot, and he pledged himself to find a +way with a good weapon through the scaly corselet of his serpent foe. +He requested only a straight two-edged sword, of well-tried temper; +and a woodman's axe, the purpose of which he did not explain. He then +left me, to plunge into the lake, and to find in its pure and bracing +waters that refreshment which, he said, it would be a vain attempt +to obtain in sleep, while I proceeded to my father's armoury, and +selected from the numerous weapons which adorned it, a long and +powerful two-edged blade, which he had brought from the Levant. This +sword was black from hilt to point, and destitute of ornament, except +some golden hieroglyphics near the guard; but I knew that it had stood +the brunt of several stirring campaigns, without material injury to +its admirable edge and temper. + +After a short and unrefreshing slumber, I arose with the sun, and +hastened, with the sword and woodman's axe, to the saloon of Colonna. +His garb was usually plain, almost to homeliness, and chosen probably +with a view to the better concealment of his rank; but for this day of +vengeance he had donned the princely costume of the Tuscan nobles. A +rich vest of embroidered scarlet, and pantaloons of woven silk, were +closely fitted to his noble person, which, I have said before, was +fashioned in the choicest mould of manly beauty, and now, so worthily +adorned, displayed in all its high perfection that faultless union of +symmetry and strength, so rarely seen in life; equalling, indeed, the +Vatican Antinous in classic elegance of form, but far surpassing that +fine statue in stature and heroic character of look and bearing. A +mantle of the richest velvet hung from his well-formed shoulders, +while a nodding plume adorned his Spanish hat and shaded his dark +eyes, which lighted up as they beheld me with bright and eager flashes +of impatience. + +"Thou art indeed the 'pearl and pride of Florence,' my Colonna!" I +exclaimed, in irrepressible admiration, applying, as I approached him, +the poetical simile of his Laura. + +Regardless of the compliment, he grasped the unpretending weapon I +held out to him, and plucked it from the scabbard. Tracing at a glance +its Oriental pedigree, he doubled the strong blade with ease, until +the point touched and rebounded from the guard, and then severed with +its unyielding edge an iron nail projecting from the wall. "This plain +old weapon," said he, with an exulting smile, "is worth a dukedom. +'Twill pierce a panoply of Milan steel, and I pledge myself to make it +search the vitals of this ruffian governor. But these are words, +Pisani; and words, the Roman proverb says, are feminine, while deeds +alone are masculine. Farewell, then, till we meet in the defile. It is +essential to my purpose that I reach the ground some hours before +Barozzo." + +He then embraced me cordially, concealed the axe beneath his mantle, +and departed for the mountains, intending to cross the lake to a point +not distant from the scene of action. At an early hour I mounted +my horse, and rode towards the Villa Foscari. In the vicinity of +Peschiera I descried the governor proceeding on his daily morning +excursion to the mountains. I had hitherto rarely seen him with +more than one attendant, but he was now closely followed by two +well-mounted Greeks of lofty stature, attired in the gorgeous costume +of the Levant, and armed with scimitar and dagger. The square and +athletic person of their chief was arrayed in the splendid garb of a +military commander of distinguished rank. His ample chest was covered +with a corselet of light scale-armour, which yielded to every motion +of his frame, and was partially concealed by a broad sash, and a +capacious velvet mantle. A sword of unusual length hung from his belt, +whence also projected the handle of a poniard, which blazed with +jewels of great lustre and value. At the age of forty-two, Barozzo was +still in the full vigour of manhood; and the martial ease and energy +of his movements indicated that he would find full occupation for the +quick eye and unrivalled skill of the comparatively unarmed Colonna. + +The governor saluted me as usual, and after some remarks upon the +beauty of the surrounding scenery, he carelessly inquired where my +friend the painter was. I replied, that he was gone up the lake in his +bark, and described him as an itinerant personage, who delighted in +ranging over the Brescian mountains, where he passed a considerable +portion of his time in sketching, and was but an occasional inmate +of my father's villa. The governor made no comment, and resumed +his observations on the wild mountain scenery to which we were +approaching. I inquired if he had yet discovered in his rides a defile +of singular and romantic beauty, the avenue to which, from the +main-road, was concealed by a grove of beech. He replied in the +negative, and assented to my proposal that we should explore it. A +ride of two hours brought us to the secluded entrance of this +picturesque ravine, and we descended into its deep and silent +recesses. The road was stony, rugged, and unfrequented; and, except at +intervals, admitted only two horsemen abreast. The mountains on each +side rose with bold abruptness, and their mossy surfaces were dotted +with perennial oaks and lofty beeches, which threw their arched and +interwoven branches across the chasm, and intercepted agreeably the +glare and heat of the morning sun. We had proceeded about a league +along this still and dusky hollow, when we distinguished the sound of +a woodman's axe, and the sharp report of its echo from the opposite +cliffs. We soon reached the spot above which the labourer was +employed; but the profusion of foliage and underwood entirely screened +the person of the woodman, whose axe continued to descend with +unabated energy. We had advanced about a hundred paces beyond this +point, when our course was arrested by a groaning and mighty crash, +succeeded by a stunning shock, which shook the ravine like an +earthquake, and was re-echoed in deep, long mutterings by the adjacent +rocks. Tranquillising our startled coursers, we looked around and +beheld a colossal beech, lying in the narrow pathway, which it filled +up like a rampart. The Greeks, who had loitered to discern, if +possible, the person of the vigorous woodman, were intercepted by the +fallen giant of the mountain, but had escaped injury, as we could +perceive them in their saddles through the foliage. + +Startled by the ominous appearance of this incident, the governor +immediately rode back, and bade his attendants dismount and lead their +horses over a sheep-path which rose on the mountain slope, above the +level of the fallen tree, while he would ride on slowly until they +rejoined him. Execrating the peasant who had thus annoyed him, he +turned his courser's head, and we proceeded at a slow pace to the +now contiguous spot which I had described to Colonna as best suited +to his purpose. Here the base of an enormous cliff projected like a +rampart into the defile, and sloped abruptly into two right angles, +connected by a level line of nearly perpendicular rock, which rose +in castellated grandeur to a towering height. The numerous crevices +and hollows were fringed with dazzling heath-flowers and luxuriant +creepers, between which the bare black surface of the rock frowned on +the passing gazer like the ruined stronghold of some mountain robber. +We now turned the first angle of the cliff, looking upward as we rode +at the majestic front of this singular work of nature. Still gazing, +we had proceeded about fifty paces, and the governor was remarking, +that the level and lofty summit would make a commanding military +station, when suddenly our coursers halted, and looking down we saw +before us the tall and kingly figure of Colonna, standing like an +apparition in the pathway. His right hand rested on his unsheathed +sword, and his attitude was that of careless and assured composure; +but in his gathered brow, and in the boding glitter of his eye, I +could discern the deadly purpose of the forest lion, about to spring +upon his prey, and fully confident in his own powers and resources. At +this sudden encounter of Montalto's son, who seemed to start with +spectral abruptness from the ground beneath us, Barozzo shook in his +saddle as if he had seen an accusing spirit. For a moment the blood +left his face, his breath shortened, and his chest heaved with strong +internal emotion, but his iron features soon regained their wonted +character of intrepidity. He then darted upon me a keen look of +inquiry and suspicion; before, however, he had time to speak, Colonna +was upon him. Rapidly advancing, he seized the bridle of his horse, +and thus addressed him:--"Barozzo! the measure of thy crimes is full, +and retribution is at hand! Colonna the painter is no more, but the +son of Montalto has escaped thy dagger, and demands atonement for his +father's blood. Dismount, assassin! and defend thy worthless life!" + +The deep and startling grandeur of Colonna's voice, and the implacable +hostility which flashed from his fierce eyeballs, shook the firm +sinews of the guilty governor, and again his swarthy lineaments were +blanched with terror. By a sudden and powerful effort, however, he +regained self-mastery, and gathering into his grim features all the +pride and insolence of his soul, he darted upon his youthful enemy a +sneer of contempt. "Presuming vagrant!" he shouted, in accents hoarse +with wrath, "dare to impede my progress, and my retinue, which is at +hand, shall scatter thy limbs on the highway!" + +Still firmly grasping the bridle, Colonna eyed him for a moment with +quiet scorn, and then he smiled--briefly indeed, but with a stinging +mockery, a hot and withering scorn of eye and lip, that seared the +haughty chieftain to the brain. Writhing with sudden frenzy, he +spurred his mettled charger, and endeavoured to ride down his +opponent; but the generous animal, true to the instincts of a nature +nobler than his master's, refused to advance, and plunged and +demi-volted with a violence which would have unseated a less +experienced rider. At this moment, the heavy trampling of approaching +horses rolled in doubling echoes through the ravine. Encouraged by the +welcome sound, Barozzo attempted to draw his sword, but before the +plunging of his horse would allow him to reach the hilt, the vigilant +Colonna smote him on the cheek with his sheathed weapon. Then +relinquishing the bridle, and stepping lightly sideways, he struck the +horse's flank, and the startled animal, straining every sinew, bounded +away like a ball, and quickly disappeared round the second angle of +the cliff, followed by the loud laugh of the exulting Colonna, whose +fierce ha! ha! re-echoed through the rocky hollow like a trumpet-call. +Meanwhile the Greeks, who had turned the first angle in time to behold +the termination of the struggle, drew their sabres, and pushing their +horses into a gallop, rushed down upon us like infuriated tigers. +Anticipating their attack, I was not unprepared to aid my gallant +friend in this emergency; but all assistance was superfluous to one so +fertile in resources. He turned with graceful promptitude upon the +savage Cretans, and before their powerful steeds could measure the +short intervening distance, his sword was firmly set between his +teeth, and two pistols appeared with magical abruptness in his grasp. +Levelled by an eye which never failed, these weapons lodged a bullet +in the breast of each approaching Greek. The colossal riders reeled in +their saddles; their sabres quivered in their weakened grasp, and +reclining for support upon the necks of their startled horses, they +successively passed us, and turned the angle beyond which their chief +had disappeared. Colonna now threw down his pistols, and exclaimed +exultingly, "Now is the crowning hour, my Angelo! follow me, and you +shall find the scaly monster of my dream caught in a trap from which +no human power can free him." + +I rode by his side in wondering anticipation, and when we had passed +the angle, I beheld a scene which still remains engraven on my memory. +The defile here expanded into an irregular oval, the extremity of +which was blocked up by a dense and impervious mass of young beech and +poplar, rising above thrice the height of a tall man, and levelled +that morning by the ponderous axe of the indefatigable Colonna. The +courser of Barozzo had plunged deep into the leafy labyrinth, and the +unhorsed governor, entangled by his velvet drapery, was endeavouring +to extricate himself from the forked and intersecting branches, while +the horses of the Greeks stood panting in the shade, near the bleeding +bodies of their fallen masters, and the noble brutes snorted with +horror, and shook in every joint, as with lowered necks and flaming +eyes, they snuffed the blood of the expiring wretches. + +As we approached the governor, he succeeded in releasing himself by +cutting his rich mantle into shreds with his dagger. Stepping out of +his leafy toils, he stood before us like a wild beast caught in a +hunter's trap, foaming, furious, and breathless, but evidently +dismayed by the sudden and irremediable loss of his armed followers. +Divested of the drapery which had served the double purpose of +concealment and display, we observed that he was accoutred in back and +breast proof armour, of the light steel scales I have before +described. He looked the very serpent of Colonna's dream, and the +malignant scowl of his small and snaky eyes gave singular force to the +resemblance. His generous enemy allowed him time to recover from the +fatigue of disentangling himself, and then approached him. "Barozzo!" +said he, "last night I shot thy cowardly assassin. In dying penitence +he called himself _thy_ agent in the murder of my noble parent, and +bade me shun the daggers of thy savage Cretans. But Montalto's son +would risk a thousand lives to gain his just revenge, and again he +warns thee to defend thy life. Pisani shall be umpire of the combat, +and his time-honoured name is pledge enough that no foul play is meant +thee." + +The governor, who had now recovered breath and self-possession, folded +his arms, and met the stern defiance of his youthful foe with a look +of contemptuous indifference. Not deigning a reply, he addressed +himself to me in tones of angry expostulation, and expressed his +indignant surprise that a son of the Senator Pisani should thus lend +himself to the designs of a young vagrant, who was destined to grace +the benches of a galley. My reply was anticipated by the fiery +Colonna, whose sword flashed with lightning quickness from the +scabbard, while his haughty lip curled up with unutterable scorn. + +"Remorseless villain!" he shouted, in a voice of appalling wrath, "I +know a venom yet shall sting thy recreant spirit into action. Know, +Ercole Barozzo! that Foscari's daughter was wooed and won by +_me_--plighted her troth to _me_--long ere she saw thy truculent and +yellow visage. Nay, more, she would ere this have fled with me from +Lombardy, had not higher duties staid our mutual purpose." + +The governor, although a renowned and fearless soldier in earlier +life, had betrayed a terror on the first view of Colonna, and a +reluctance to engage with him in single-handed conflict, which I had +referred to the depressing action of a diseased conscience, or to the +increased love of life generated by his prosperous condition; but a +taunt like this was beyond all human endurance; it stung him to the +very soul, and roused his lazy valour into life and fury. His sinews +stiffened with rage, and his widely-opened eyes glared upon Colonna +like those of a tigress at bay, while his teeth remained firmly +clenched, and inaudible maledictions quivered on his working lips. +Tearing his formidable sword from its sheath, he rushed like one +delirious upon his adversary, and their blades met with a clash which +told the deadly rancour of the combatants. + +I now witnessed a conflict unparalleled for intense and eager +thirst of blood. It was truly the death-grapple of the lion and +the serpent. The noble and generous Colonna, pursuing his just +revenge, and trusting, like the kingly animal, to native strength +and courage, sought no unfair advantage; while the crafty Barozzo, +huge in body, tortuous in mind, and scaled with impenetrable steel, +well personified the reptile of Colonna's vision. Although a +practised and wary swordsman, he did not wield his weapon like +Colonna, who, with equal skill in stratagem and feint, was unrivalled +in that lightning-quickness and ready sympathy of eye and hand, for +which the Italians are pre-eminent amongst the swordsmen of Europe; +but the courage and self-possession of the governor had been exercised +in frequent conflicts with the Moslem; his sinews were strung with +martial toil and daily exercise; and his well-mailed person presented +so little vulnerable surface as greatly to protract and facilitate his +defence. He soon learned, however, to respect the formidable skill and +untiring arm of his young opponent, whose weapon played with a motion +so rapid and incessant, that he seemed to parry and thrust at the same +instant; and had not the large and powerful hand of Barozzo retained +a firm grasp of his hilt, he would have been disarmed at the first +onset. After a few passes, Colonna's point struck the centre of the +governor's corselet with a force which made the scales sink deep +beneath the pressure, but the tempered steel resisted this and many +other well-directed hits. The conflict proceeded with unabated +fierceness, and for a period which would have utterly exhausted men +of ordinary lungs and sinews, when Barozzo, finding all his lunges +ineffective, and fearing premature exhaustion, endeavoured to sustain +and collect his powers by remaining on the defensive; but it was now +too late. His sword was irrecoverably entangled in the whirlwind +involutions of Colonna's weapon--his hold began to relax--and he saw +the moment rapidly approaching when he should be disarmed, and at the +mercy of an unappeasable foe.[A] Despairing of success, thirsting for +revenge, and regardless of the laws of fair and open combat, he +suddenly drew his long dagger, dropped on one knee, and made a thrust +which would have proved fatal to a less vigilant adversary. But +Colonna had anticipated the possibility of this base attempt from one +so destitute of all chivalrous feeling, and his quick eye observed and +met the movement. Stepping lightly back, he whirled his keen-edged +blade with a force which cut deep into Barozzo's wrist. The dagger +dropped from his palsied grasp, and, at the same instant, his sword +flew above his head. Colonna, having disarmed his treacherous enemy +while still kneeling, disdained to follow up his advantage, and coolly +said to him, "That trick was worthy of you, governor! but your +murderous game is nearly up. Resume your sword, and clutch the guard +more firmly, or in three passes more you will be food for vultures!" + +[Footnote A: When a student in Germany, the writer had twelve months' +drill in fencing from a French emigrant, and saw a fencing-match _a +l'outrance_ between that equivocal personage the Chevalier d'Eon--then +an elderly man or woman--with a young and vigorous fencing-master, an +emigrant nobleman, who, like Colonna, by rapid involutions, so +entangled the foil of the Chevalier, that he was at length quite +exhausted, and unable to ward off the incessant attacks of his +adversary. He recollects, too, a curious fact, that the Chevalier, +when fencing, emitted, whenever he lunged out, a succession of sounds +from the throat, which he can only compare with the short grunts of a +frightened pig.--_April 1858._] + +Barozzo, who had started from the ground, and now stood foaming at the +mouth like a chafed panther, said nothing in reply, but seized his +sword, and rushed upon his generous adversary with desperate but +unavailing ferocity. I could now perceive that Colonna pressed him +more hotly than before, and that his point no longer sought the +corselet, but the throat of Barozzo, where indeed alone he was +mortally vulnerable, and where, ere long, the death-stroke reached +him. A few passes had been exchanged without a hit, when suddenly +Barozzo's sword again flew from his grasp, and long before it reached +the ground, Colonna's point was buried in his throat. The thrust was +mortal. The steel had severed the duct of life; the hot blood bubbled +out in streams; and the huge Barozzo staggered, reeled, and fell upon +his back. A bloody froth now gathered round his lips, which worked +with agony and rage; the life-blood ebbed apace, and soon the trunk +and limbs of the colossal chieftain were stiffened in death. But even +in death the dominant passions of his soul were strongly written in +his livid features. His glazed and sunken eyes still glared with +fiend-like malice on his conqueror, and every lineament was inwrought +with reckless and insatiable ferocity. + +Colonna gazed a while in solemn and impressive silence upon the foe he +had destroyed. His broad forehead darkened with deep thought, and his +eyes saddened with painful recollections of the beloved parent whose +untimely death he had so well avenged. Soon, however, his noble +features brightened with a fervent look of blended filial piety and +exultation. He wiped his reeking blade upon the remnants of Barozzo's +mantle, and we retraced our steps. Colonna ascended a sheep-path, and +crossed the mountain to regain his boat, while I returned by a +circuitous road to the villa, leaving the governor of Candia and his +retinue to the vultures of the Apennine, which, with unerring ken, had +espied the dead Greeks, and were already sailing in wide eddies high +above the scene of blood. + + * * * * * + +Here my friend, who had with difficulty pursued his way through the +mouldy pages of the decayed manuscript, was compelled to make a final +pause. The long action of time and damp had nearly obliterated the +remainder of the narrative, and glimpses only of romantic perils by +sea and land were occasionally discernible. We were obliged to suspend +all farther gratification of our curiosity until our return to Venice, +where we hoped by a chemical process to succeed in restoring to a more +legible tint the pale characters of this interesting manuscript. + + + + +NAPOLEON. + +BY J. G. LOCKHART. + +[_MAGA._ JULY 1821.] + + + The mighty sun had just gone down + Into the chambers of the deep; + The ocean birds had upward flown, + Each in his cave to sleep. + + And silent was the island shore, + And breathless all the broad red sea, + And motionless beside the door + Our solitary tree. + + Our only tree, our ancient palm, + Whose shadow sleeps our door beside. + Partook the universal calm, + When Buonaparte died. + + An ancient man, a stately man, + Came forth beneath the spreading tree, + His silent thoughts I could not scan, + His tears I needs must see. + + A trembling hand had partly cover'd + The old man's weeping countenance, + Yet something o'er his sorrow hover'd + That spake of War and France; + + Something that spake of other days, + When trumpets pierced the kindling air, + And the keen eye could firmly gaze + Through battle's crimson glare. + + Said I, Perchance this faded hand, + When Life beat high, and Hope was young, + By Lodi's wave--on Syria's sand-- + The bolt of death hath flung. + + Young Buonaparte's battle-cry + Perchance hath kindled this old cheek; + It is no shame that he should sigh,-- + His heart is like to break. + + He hath been with him, young and old; + He climb'd with him the Alpine snow; + He heard the cannon when they roll'd + Along the silver Po. + + His soul was as a sword, to leap + At his accustom'd leader's word; + I love to see the old man weep,-- + He knew no other lord. + + As if it were but yesternight, + This man remembers dark Eylau,-- + His dreams are of the Eagle's flight, + Victorious long ago. + + The memories of worser time + Are all as shadows unto him; + Fresh stands the picture of his prime,-- + The later trace is dim. + + I enter'd, and I saw him lie + Within the chamber, all alone, + I drew near very solemnly + To dead Napoleon. + + He was not shrouded in a shroud, + He lay not like the vulgar dead, + Yet all of haughty, stern, and proud + From his pale brow was fled. + + He had put harness on to die, + The eagle-star shone on his breast, + His sword lay bare his pillow nigh,-- + The sword he liked the best. + + But calm--most calm was all his face, + A solemn smile was on his lips, + His eyes were closed in pensive grace-- + A most serene eclipse! + + You would have said some sainted sprite + Had left its passionless abode,-- + Some man, whose prayer at morn and night + Had duly risen to God. + + What thoughts had calm'd his dying breast + (For calm he died) cannot be known; + Nor would I wound a warrior's rest-- + Farewell, Napoleon! + + No sculptured pile our hands shall rear; + Thy simple sod the stream shall lave. + The native Holly's leaf severe + Shall grace and guard thy grave. + + The Eagle stooping from the sky + Shall fold his wing and rest him here, + And sunwards gaze with glowing eye + From Buonaparte's bier. + + + + +A LEGEND OF GIBRALTAR. + +BY COLONEL E. B. HAMLEY. + +[_MAGA._ NOVEMBER 1851.] + + +CHAPTER I. + +The Governor's residence at Gibraltar was, in days of Spanish +domination, a religious house, and still retains the name of the +Convent. Two sides of a long quadrangular gallery, traversing the +interior of the building, are hung with portraits of officers present +at the great siege in 1779-83, executed in a style which proves that +Pre-Raphaelite painters existed in those days. One of these portraits +represents my grandfather. To judge from a painting of him by Sir +Joshua, and a small miniature likeness, both still in possession of +the family, he must have been rather a good-looking old gentleman, +with an affable, soldier-like air, and very respectable features. The +portrait at the Convent is doubtless a strong likeness, but by no +means so flattering; it represents him much as he might have appeared +in life, if looked at through a cheap opera-glass. A full inch has +been abstracted from his forehead and added to his chin; the bold nose +has become a great promontory in the midst of the level countenance; +the eyes have gained in ferocity what they have lost in speculation, +and would, indeed, go far to convey a disagreeable impression of my +ancestor's character, but for the inflexible smile of the mouth. +Altogether, the grimness of the air, the buckram rigidity of figure, +and the uncompromising hardness of his shirt-frill and the curls of +his wig, are such as are to be met with in few works of art, besides +the figure-heads of vessels and the sign-boards of country inns. + +However, my grandfather is no worse off than his compeers. Not far +from this one is another larger painting, representing a council of +officers held during the siege, where, notwithstanding the gravity of +the occasion and the imminence of the danger, not a single face in the +intrepid assembly wears the slightest expression of anxiety or fear, +or, indeed, of anything else; and though my progenitor, in addition to +the graces of the other portrait, is here depicted with a squint, yet +he is by no means the most ill-looking individual present. But the +illustrious governor, Eliott, has suffered more than anybody at the +hands of the artist. Besides figuring in the production aforesaid, a +statue of him stands in the Alameda, carved in some sort of wood, +unluckily for him, of a durable nature. The features are of a very +elevated cast, especially the nose; the little legs seem by no means +equal to the task of sustaining the enormous cocked-hat; and the +bearing is so excessively military, that it has been found necessary +to prop the great commander from behind to prevent him from falling +backwards. + +My grandfather, John Flinders, joined the garrison of Gibraltar +as a major of infantry a few years before the siege. He was then +forty-seven years of age, and up to that time had remained one of the +most determined old bachelors that ever existed. Not that he ever +declaimed against matrimony in the style of some of our young moderns, +who fancy themselves too strong-minded to marry; the truth being that +they remain single, either because they have not been gifted by nature +with tastes sufficiently strong to like one woman better than another, +or else, because no woman ever took the trouble to lay siege to them. +My grandfather had never married, simply, I believe, because matrimony +had never entered his head. He seldom ventured, of his own choice, +into ladies' society, but, when he did, no man was more emphatically +gallant to the sex. One after one, he saw his old friends abandoning +the irresponsible ease of bachelorhood for the cares of wedded life; +but while he duly congratulated them on their felicity, and officiated +as godfather to their progeny, he never seemed to anticipate a +similar destiny for himself. All his habits showed that he had been +too long accustomed to single harness to go cleverly as one of a pair. +He had particular hours of rising and going to bed; of riding out and +returning; of settling himself down for the evening to a book and +pipe, which the presence of a helpmate would have materially deranged. +And therefore, without holding any Malthusian tenets, without pitying +his Benedick acquaintances, or entertaining a thought of the sex which +would have been in the least degree derogatory to the character of a +De Coverley, his castles in the air were never tenanted by any of his +own posterity. + +It was fortunate for my grandfather that in his time people did +not suffer so much as now from that chronic inflammation of the +conscience, which renders them perfectly miserable unless they are +engaged in some tangible pursuit--"improving their minds," or "adding +to the general stock of information." A more useless, contented person +never existed. He never made even a show of employing himself +profitably, and never complained of weariness in maintaining the +monotonous jog-trot of his simple daily life. He read a good deal, +certainly, but it was not to improve his mind, only to amuse himself. +Strong-minded books, to stimulate his thinking faculties, would have +had no charms for him; he would as soon have thought of getting +galvanised for the pleasure of looking at his muscles. And I don't +know whether it was not just as well. In systematically cultivating +his mind, he would merely have been laying a top-dressing on a thin +soil--manuring where there would never have been a crop--and some +pleasant old weeds would have been pulled up in the process. A green +thistly common, even though a goose could hardly find sustenance +there, is nature still, which can hardly be said of a patch of earth +covered with guano. + +So my grandfather went on enjoying himself without remorse after his +own fashion, and never troubled himself to think--an operation that +would have been inconvenient to himself, and productive of no great +results to the world. He transplanted his English habits to Gibraltar; +and, after being two years there, knew nothing more of Spain or +Spaniards than the view of the Andalucian hills from the Rock, and a +short constitutional daily ride along the beach beyond the Spanish +lines, to promote appetite and digestion, afforded him. And so he +might have continued to vegetate during the remainder of his service +there, but for a new acquaintance that he made about this time. + +Frank Owen, commonly called Garry Owen by his familiars, was one of +those joyous spirits whose pleasant faces and engaging manners serve +as a perpetual act of indemnity for all breaches of decorum, and +trespasses over social and conventional fences, committed by them in +the gaiety of their hearts. In reproving his many derelictions of +military duty, the grim colonel of the regiment would insensibly +exchange his habitual tone of severe displeasure for one of mild +remonstrance--influenced, probably, quite as much, in secret, by the +popularity of the unrepentant offender, as by any personal regard +for him. Captain Hedgehog, who had shot a man through the heart for +corking his face one night when he was drunk, and all contact with +whose detonating points of honour was as carefully avoided by his +acquaintance as if they had been the wires of a spring-gun, sustained +Garry's reckless personalities with a sort of warning growl utterly +thrown away upon the imperturbable wag, who would still persist, in +the innocence of his heart, in playing round the den of this military +cockatrice. And three months after his arrival in Gibraltar, being one +day detected by a fierce old Spanish lady in the very act of kissing +her daughter behind the little senorita's great painted fan, his +good-humoured impudence converted the impending storm into a mild +drizzle of reproof, ending in his complete restoration to favour. + +This youth had brought with him from England a letter from his mother, +a widow lady, an old friend of my grandfather, who had some thirty +years before held with her a juvenile flirtation. It recommended to +his protection her son Frank, about to join the regiment as an ensign, +pathetically enlarging on the various excellencies, domestic and +religious, which shone forth conspicuously in the youth's character, +and of the comfort of contemplating and superintending which she was +about to be deprived. In fact, it had led my grandfather to expect a +youth of extreme docility and modesty, requiring a protector rather to +embolden than to restrain him. After in vain attempting to espy in his +young acquaintance any of the characteristics ascribed to him in his +mother's letter, the Major, naturally good-natured and accessible to +his youthful comrades, very soon suffered himself to be influenced by +the good-humour, vigorous vitality, and careless cleverness of the +Ensign, to an extent that caused him sometimes to wonder secretly at +his own transformation. His retired habits were broken in upon, one +after the other, till he had scarcely a secluded hour in his sixteen +waking ones to enjoy alone his book and his pipe. His peaceful +quarters, silent in general as a monk's cell, would now be invaded at +all sorts of hours by the jovial Garry, followed by the admiring +satellites who usually revolved around him; and the Major, with a +sound between a groan and a chuckle, would close his well-beloved +volume to listen to the facetious details of, and sometimes to +participate in, the uncongenial freaks of the humorous subaltern. Once +he had actually consented, at about the hour he usually went to bed, +to accompany the youth to a Carnival ball--one of a series of +entertainments at which the Catholic youth of the city are wont to +indemnify themselves for the mortifications of Lent, and where masks, +dominoes, and fancy dresses lend their aid to defeat the vigilance of +the lynx-eyed duennas and mammas who look anxiously on, perfectly +aware, in general, that their own watchfulness is more to be relied on +for nipping in the bud an indiscreet amour, than any innate iciness of +temperament or austere propriety in the objects of their care. Not +only did the Major mingle in the scene, but he actually, about +midnight, found himself figuring in a cotillon with a well-developed +senorita of thirteen years, whose glances and deportment showed a +precocious proficiency in the arts of flirtation. At this ball Garry +had become enamoured beyond all former passions (and they were +numerous and inconstant, in general, as if he had been a Grand Turk) +of one of his partners, a young Spanish lady. Her graceful figure and +motions in the dance had at first captivated him--and when, after +dancing with her himself, his eloquent entreaties, delivered in +indifferent Spanish, had prevailed on her to lift her mask for one coy +moment, the vision of eyes and eyebrows (the common beauties of a +Spanish countenance), and the clear rosy complexion, a much more rare +perfection, then revealed, had accomplished the utter subjugation of +his errant fancy. She had vanished from the ball silently and +irremediably, as a houri of Paradise from the awakening eyes of an +opium-eating Pasha; and all his attempts to trace her, continued +unceasingly for a couple of months afterwards, had proved in vain. + +One morning my grandfather was seated at breakfast in the verandah of +his quarters, situated high up the rock above the town. Below him lay +the roofs, terraced and balconied, and populous with cats, for whose +convenience the little flat stone squares at the top of most of the +houses appeared to have been devised. Tall towers, called mirandas, +shot up at intervals, from whose summits the half-baked inhabitants, +pent within close walls and streets, might catch refreshing glimpses +of the blue sea and the hills of Spain--conveniences destined soon +afterwards to be ruined by the enemy's fire, or pulled down to avoid +attracting it, and never rebuilt. Beyond the white sunny ridge of the +line wall came the sharp edge of the bay, rising in high perspective +to the purple coast of Spain opposite, which was sprinkled with +buildings white as the sails that dotted the water. My grandfather was +in a state of great sensual enjoyment, sniffing up the odour of the +large geranium-bushes that grew in clumps in the little garden in +front, and the roses that twined thickly round the trellis of the +vine-roofed verandah; sipping thick creamy Spanish chocolate between +the mouthfuls of red mullet, broiled in white paper, the flavour of +which he was diligently comparing with that of some specimens of +the same fish which he remembered to have eaten in his youth in +Devonshire; and glancing sideways over the cup at an open volume of +Shakespeare, leaned slopingly on the edge of a plate of black figs +bursting with ripeness, like trunk-hose slashed with crimson. The +Major was none of your skimming readers, who glance through a work +of art as if it were a newspaper--measure, weigh it, and deliver a +critical opinion on it, before the more reverential student has +extricated himself from the toils of the first act or opening chapter: +not he; he read every word, and affixed a meaning, right or wrong, to +all the hard, obsolete ones. The dramatic fitness of the characters +was not to be questioned by him, any more than that of the authentic +personages of history. He would reason on their acts and proceedings +as on those of his own intimate acquaintances. He never could account +for Hamlet's madness otherwise than by supposing the Prince must have, +some time or other, got an ugly rap on the head--let fall, perhaps, +when a baby, by a gin-drinking nurse--producing, as in some persons he +had himself from time to time been acquainted with, a temporary +aberration of the wits; a piece of original criticism that has not +occurred to any of the other commentators on this much-discussed +point. Of Iago he has recorded an opinion in an old note-book still +extant, where his observations appear in indifferent orthography, and +ink yellow with age, that he was a cursed scoundrel--an opinion +delivered with all the emphasis of an original detector of crime, +anxious that full though tardy justice should be done to the +delinquent's memory. But his great favourite was Falstaff: "A +wonderful clever fellow, sir," he would say, "and no more a coward +than you or I, sir." + +My grandfather proceeded slowly with his meal, holding the cup to his +lips with one hand and turning a leaf with the other--an operation +which he was delaying till a great mosquito-hawk (a beautiful brown +moth mottled like a pheasant), that had settled on the page, should +think proper to take flight. He had lately come from a parade, as was +evidenced by his regimental leather breeches and laced red waistcoat; +but a chintz dressing-gown and a pair of yellow Moorish slippers +softened down the warlike tone of these garments to one more congenial +with his peaceable and festive pursuits. Presently the garden door +opened, and a well-known step ascended to the verandah. Frank Owen, +dressed in a cool Spanish costume, advanced, and, stopping three paces +from the Major, took off his tufted sombrero and made a low bow. + +"You are the picture, my dear sir," he said, "of serene enjoyment +slightly tinged with sensuality. But how long, may I ask, have you +taken to breakfasting on spiders?"--pointing, as he took a chair +opposite the Major, at an immense red-spotted one that had dropt from +the ceiling on the morsel my grandfather was in the act of conveying +to his mouth. + +The Major tenderly removed the insect by a leg. + +"'Tis the worst of these al-fresco meals, Frank," said he. "Yesterday +I cut a green lizard in two that had got on my plate, mistaking him +for a bit of salad--being, as usual, more intent on my book than my +food--and had very near swallowed the tail-half of the unfortunate +animal." + +"There are worse things than lizards in the world," quoth Garry. +"Ants, I should say, were certainly less wholesome"--and he directed +the Major's attention to a long black line of those interesting +creatures issuing from a hole in the pavement, passing in an unbroken +series up my ancestor's left leg, the foot of which rested on the +ground, then traversing the cloth, and terminating at the loaf, the +object of their expedition. + +"Bless me," said the Major, as he rose and shook his breeches gently +free from the marauders, "I must be more careful, or I shall chance to +do myself a mischief. But they're worse at night. I've been obliged to +leave off reading here in the evenings, for it went to my heart to see +the moths scorching their pretty gauzy wings in the candle till the +wicks were half-choked with them." + +"Do you know, Major," said Owen, gravely, "that either this insect +diet, or the sedentary life you lead, is making you quite fat, and +utterly destroying the symmetry of your figure? In another week there +will be one unbroken line of rotundity from your chin to your knees." + +My grandfather glanced downward at his waistcoat. "No, my boy, no," +said he; "if there had been any difference, I should have known it by +my clothes. I don't think I've gained a pound this twelvemonth." + +"More than a stone," quoth Garry. "We all remarked it on parade +to-day--and remarked it with sorrow. Now, look you, a sea voyage is +the very thing to restore your true proportions, and I propose that we +shall take a short one together." + +"A sea voyage!" quoth my grandfather; "the boy is mad! Not if all the +wonders seen by Sinbad the Sailor lay within a day's sail. Did I not +suffer enough coming here from England? I don't think," said my +grandfather with considerable pathos, "that my digestion has ever been +quite right to this day." + +"'Sick of a calm,' eh?--Like your friend Mistress Tearsheet," said the +youngster. "But I've settled it all, and count on you. Look here," he +continued, drawing from his pocket a large printed bill, and unfolding +it before my ancestor. At the top appeared in large capitals the +words, "Plaza de Toros;" and underneath was a woodcut representing a +bull, gazing, with his tail in the air, and an approving smile on his +countenance, on the matadore about to transfix him. Then followed a +glowing account in Spanish of the delights of a great bull-fight +shortly to take place at Cadiz, setting forth the ferocity of the +bulls, the number of horses that might be expected to die in the +arena, and the fame of the picadores and espadas who were then and +there to exhibit. + +The Major shook his head--the captivating prospectus had no charms for +him: he had not, as I have before said, an inquiring mind, and habit +was so strong in him, that a change was like the dislocation of a +joint. The Ensign proceeded to paint the delights of the excursion in +the brightest colours he could command. They were to go to Cadiz in a +boat which he had lately bought; she was a capital sailer--there was a +half-deck forward, under which the Major might sleep as comfortably as +in his own bed--a cooking apparatus (and here, as he expatiated on the +grills and stews and devils that were to be cooked and eaten, with the +additional stimulus to appetite afforded by sea air, there was a spark +of relenting in my grandfather's eye). "You shall return," said the +tempter, "with a digestion so completely renovated, that my name +shall rise to your tongue at each meal as a grace before meat, and a +thanksgiving after it; and as to sea-sickness, why, this Levanter +will take us there in twelve hours, so smoothly that you may balance +a straw upon your nose the whole way." Finally, the cunning Ensign +laid before him an application for leave already made out, and only +awaiting his signature. + +My grandfather made some feeble objections, which Owen pooh-poohed in +his usual off-hand fashion. There was no standing against the +youngster's strong will, and at five o'clock that same evening the +Major found himself proceeding through the town towards the Waterport +for embarkation, by no means fully reconciled to the abandonment of +his beloved Lares. My luckless grandfather! did no presentiment warn +you of a consequence then hanging in the clouds, that was to change +utterly for you the untroubled aspect of those household gods? + +Owen had attired himself for the trip in a half-nautical costume--a +shirt of light-blue flannel, fastened at the collar with a smart +bandana, a blue jacket, loose duck trousers, and a montero cap, which +costume became the puppy well enough. He seemed of this opinion +himself, as he walked gaily along beside the Major: so did the +black-eyed occupants of many houses on each side, who peeped forth +smilingly from behind their green lattices, sometimes nodding, and +kissing their hands--for the Ensign had an incredible acquaintance +with the budding and full-blown portion of the population of +Gibraltar. The Major had stuck to his buckskins, (which stuck to him +in return), over which he had drawn a pair of jack-boots, and wore his +red-laced coat and regimental hat--for in those days that passion for +mufti, now so prevalent in the army, did not exist. Whenever he caught +sight of any of the greetings bestowed from the windows, he would take +off his laced hat, and, fixing his eyes on the tittering senorita, who +generally let fall the lattice with a slam, would make her a low +bow--and, after each of these acts of courtesy, my grandfather walked +on more elated than before. + +They passed the drawbridge at Waterport, and, struggling through the +crowd of Turks, Jews, infidels, and heretics, who usually throng the +quay, entered a shore-boat that was to row them out to where Owen's +vessel--the _Fair Unknown_, as he had christened her, in memory of his +unforgotten partner at the Carnival ball--lay moored. In her they +found a sailor who was to accompany them on their voyage--a noted +contrabandista, called Francisco, whose friendship Owen had lately +acquired, and who acted as his lieutenant on his marine excursions. +The boat was a neat affair--a small cutter, smartly painted, well +found, and capable of holding several persons comfortably; and +Francisco was a ruddy, portly, dark-skinned, large-whiskered son of +the sea, the picture of good-humour. My grandfather stept in, in his +jack-boots. There was much settling of carpet-bags and stowing of +provisions in the lockers, and then they hoisted sail, and glided +smoothly out from among the shipping into the bay. + +The breeze was light and fair, and they went on, as Frank had +promised, pleasantly enough. My grandfather for the first time +surveyed the scene of his two years' residence from the sea. The grey +old rock looked mellow in the evening light, as an elderly gentleman +over his wine--the window-panes glanced ruddily, the walls gleamed +whitely, and the trees were tinted with a yellower green; behind, in +the eastern sky, floated one single purple cloud. As the objects +became confused in the distance, the sharp rugged outline of the rock +assumed the appearance that has caused the Spaniards to call it El +Cuerpo--the appearance of a vast human body laid out on its back, and +covered with a winding-sheet, like a dead Titan on his funeral +pile--the head towards Spain, the chest arched at Middle Hill, the +legs rising gently upward to the knees at O'Hara's Tower, and then +sloping down till the feet rest on Europa. The sun went down as they +rounded Cabrita Point, and the breeze, freshening, took them swiftly +along under the huge hills that rise abruptly upward from the Spanish +coast. Then Francisco, lighting a charcoal fire, placed thereon, in a +frying-pan, tender steaks thickly strewn with sliced tomatas and +onions, from whence arose a steam that brought tears of gratitude and +delight into my grandfather's eyes. He anxiously watched the +cooking--even threw out slight suggestions, such as another pinch of +pepper, an additional onion, a slight dash of cayenne, and the like; +and then, settling a plate firmly on the knees of his jack-boots, with +a piece of bread and a cup by his side, and a knife and fork pointing +upwards in his hands like lightning-conductors, gazed cheerfully +around him. And when Francisco, rising from his knees, where he had +been blowing the charcoal fire, removed the hissing pan towards my +grandfather's plate, transferring to it a liberal portion of the +contents, the good man, gazing on the white and red streaks of +vegetable relieved by the brown background of steak, and the whole +picture swimming in a juicy atmosphere of gravy, felt sentiments of +positive friendship towards that lawless individual, and, filling a +bumper of Xerez, drank success to the voyage. + +Three times was my grandfather's plate replenished from the +thrice-filled pan. Afterwards he dallied a little with a cold pie, +followed by a bit of cheese for digestion. Then, folding his hands +across his stomach, he expressed his sincere opinion, that he had +never tasted anything so good as that steak; and when Owen placed in +his hand a smoking can of grog, he looked on the young man with a +truly paternal eye. He talked complacently and benevolently, as men +do who have dined well--praised the weather, the boat, the scene--and +wondered where a man was going who rode slowly along a mountain-path +above them, within hail, following him, in imagination, to his home, +in a sort of dreamy contentment. After a second can he began to +grow drowsy, and, just aware that Owen said the breeze was still +freshening, retired to the soft mattress spread for him under the +half-deck, and replacing his cocked-hat by a red nightcap, slept till +morning. + +It was broad daylight when he woke, conscious that for an hour or two +past he had been sleeping most uneasily. There was a violent swinging +motion, a rushing of wind and of water, that confused him extremely; +and, forgetting where he was, he nearly fractured his skull by rising +suddenly into a sitting posture. Steadying himself on his hands, in +the posture of the Dying Gladiator, he slewed himself round on the +pivot of his stern, and protruded his powdered head, like an old +beaver, out of his hole. Owen and Francisco were sitting in a pool +of water, trying to shelter themselves under the weather-side of the +boat--dripping wet, and breakfasting on cold potatoes and fragments +of meat left from last night's meal. My grandfather did not like the +appearance of things at all. Rent in twain by horrible qualms, he +inquired feebly of Owen if they were near Cadiz? Frank, in reply, +shook his head, and said they were at anchor. Then my grandfather, +making a vigorous effort, emerged completely from his place of repose, +and, rising to his feet, looked over the gunwale. The scene he beheld +was in dreary contrast to that of the evening before. Ridges of white +foam were all around--ahead was a long low line of sandy coast, +terminating in a point of rock whereon stood a lighthouse; and to +leeward the bay was enclosed by steep hills. Over the low coast-line +the wind blew with steady violence. A bright sun rather increased +the dreariness of the prospect, which was suddenly closed to my +grandfather by a shower of spray, that blinded him, and drenched him +to the skin, converting his jack-boots into buckets. The wind had +increased to a gale during the night, and they had been forced to take +precarious shelter in the harbour of Tarifa. The Major did not venture +on a second peep, but sat, dismally wet and sea-sick, the whole +morning, trying to shelter himself as he best could. Once, a man came +down to the beach, and gesticulated like a scaramouch, screaming also +at the same time; but what his gestures and screams signified nobody +on board could tell. At length, as the gale did not moderate, while +their position increased in discomfort, and was also becoming +precarious (for one of their anchors was gone, and great fears were +entertained for the other), Owen and Francisco decided to weigh, and +stand in for the shore, trusting to the smuggler's seamanship for a +safe run. The Major, in spite of his sickness, stood up and pulled +gallantly at the cable, the wind blowing his pigtail and skirts +perpendicularly out from his person. "Heaf!" screamed Francisco from +the bows; "Heave!" echoed Owen; and as the words flew past him on the +gale, my grandfather's exertions were prodigious. At last, after +tremendous tugging, the anchor came up. The jib was hoisted with a +reef in it, Owen holding the sheet, while the smuggler ran aft and +took the helm. They bent over to the gale, till the Major stood +almost perpendicularly on the lee gunwale, with his back against +the weather-side, and ran in till he thought they were going to bump +ashore; then tacking, they stood up along the coast, close to the +wind, till Francisco gave the word. Owen let go the sheet, and the jib +fluttered loosely out as they ran through a narrow passage into smooth +water behind the sea-wall, and made fast to a flight of steps. + +Presently some functionary appertaining to the harbour appeared, and +with him an emissary from the Governor of the place, who, aware of +their plight, had civilly sent to offer assistance. The messenger was +the same man who had made signals to them from the beach in the +morning; and he seemed to think it advisable that they should wait on +the Governor in person, saying that he was always disposed to be civil +to British officers. This advice they resolved to act upon at once, +before it should grow dark, foreseeing that, in case of their +detention from bad weather in Tarifa, the Governor might prove a +potent auxiliary. The Major would have wished to make some little +alterations in his toilette, after his late disasters; but, after +trying in vain to pull off his jack-boots, which clung to him like his +skin, he was obliged to abandon the idea, and contented himself with +standing on his head to let the water run out of them. As they +advanced along the causeway leading to the town (the point where they +landed is connected with the town by a long narrow sandy isthmus), +the gale swept over them volumes of sand, which, sticking on my +grandfather's wet uniform, gave him somewhat the appearance of +a brick-wall partially rough-cast. His beard was of two days' +growth--his hair-powder was converted into green paste by the +sea-water--and his whole appearance was travel-stained and deplorable. +Nevertheless his dignity by no means forsook him as they traversed the +narrow alleys of the ancient town of Tarifa on their way to the +approaching interview. + +His excellency Don Pablo Dotto, a wonderfully fat little man, received +them very courteously. He was a Spaniard of the old school, and +returned the stately greeting of my grandfather, and the easy one of +the Ensign, with such a profusion of bows, that for the space of a +minute they saw little more of his person than the shining baldness +on the top of his head. Then they were presented to his wife, a +good-natured, motherly sort of old lady, who seemed to compassionate +them much. But, while Owen was explaining to her the object of +their trip, and its disastrous interruption, he suddenly stopped, +open-mouthed, and blushing violently, with his gaze directed towards +the open door of a neighbouring apartment. There he beheld advancing +towards him, the Beauty of the Carnival ball. + +The Governor's lady named her as "her daughter, the Senorita Juana." +Spite of the different dress and circumstances, she too recognised +Frank, and coloured slightly as she came forward to receive his +greeting. The Ensign, an impudent scamp enough in general, was, +however, the more confused of the two; and his embarrassed salutation +was entirely thrown into the shade by the magnificence of my +grandfather's bow. However, he presently recovered his assurance, +and explained to the elder lady how he had previously enjoyed the +pleasure (with a great stress upon the word) of making her daughter's +acquaintance. Then he recounted to Juana the manner in which they had +been driven in here, when on their way to Cadiz to see the bull-fight. + +"We also are going to ride thither to-morrow," said the Senorita, +softly. + +"Ah, then, we shall meet there," said Frank, who presently after was +seized with a fit of absence, and made incoherent replies. He was +considering how they might travel together, and had almost resolved +to offer to take the whole family to Cadiz in his boat--a proposal +that would probably have somewhat astonished the little Governor, +especially if he had seen the dimensions of the craft thus destined +to accommodate himself and retinue. But Garry was an adept in +manoeuvring, and marched skilfully upon the point he had in view. He +drew such a pathetic picture of the hardships they had endured on the +voyage--their probable detention here for most of their short +leave--their friendless condition, and their desire to see something +of the country--that the little Governor was in a manner impelled +(fancying all the time that the impulse sprung altogether from his own +native benevolence) to desire that the two forlorn Englishmen would +travel to Cadiz under his escort. So it being settled entirely to +Garry's satisfaction that they were to start next morning at break +of day on horseback--an arrangement which my grandfather's total +ignorance of Spanish prevented him from knowing anything about--they +retired to the principal fonda, where the Major speedily forgot, over +a tolerable dinner, the toils and perils of the voyage. + + +CHAPTER II. + +Daybreak the next morning found them issuing forth from the ancient +city of Tarifa on a couple of respectable-looking hacks, hired from +the innkeeper. Frank had, with his accustomed generalship, managed to +secure a position at the off-rein of the Senorita Juana, who was +mounted on a beautiful little white barb. Under her side-saddle, of +green velvet studded with gilt nails, was a Moorish saddle-cloth, +striped with vivid red and white, and fringed deeply. From the +throat-lash of the bridle hung a long tassel, as an artificial +auxiliary to the barb's tail in the task of keeping the flies off, +further assisted by a tuft of white horse-hair attached to the butt of +her whip. She wore a looped hat and white plume, a riding-skirt, and +an embroidered jacket of blue cloth, fastened, as was the wrought +bosom of her chemise, with small gold buttons. Frank could not keep +his eyes off her, now riding off to the further side of the road to +take in at once the whole of the beauteous vision, now coming close +up to study it in its delightful details. + +In front of the pair rode the little Governor, side by side with a +Spaniard of about thirty, the long-betrothed lover of Juana--so long, +in fact, that he did not trouble himself to secure his authority in a +territory so undeniably his own, but smoked his cigar as coolly as if +there were no good-looking Englishman within fifty miles of his +mistress. He wore garments of the Spanish cut, made of nankeen--the +jacket frogged with silver cords, tagged with little silver XXXX +fishes--the latter appended, perhaps, as suitable companions to the +frogs. A hundred yards ahead was an escort of four horse-soldiers with +carbines on their thighs, their steel accoutrements flashing ruddily +in the level sunlight. Behind Frank came Major Flinders, clean shaved, +and with jack-boots and regimental coat restored to something like +their pristine splendour: by his side rode another lady, the Senorita +Carlota, Juana's aunt, somewhere about thirty years old, plump and +merry, her upper lip fringed at the corners with a line of dark down, +quite decided enough for a cornet of eighteen to be proud of--a +feminine embellishment too common for remark in these southern +regions, and, in the opinion of some connoisseurs, rather enhancing +the beauty of the fair wearers. She talked incessantly, at first, +to my grandfather, who did not understand a word she said, but +whose native politeness prompted him to say, "Si, Senorita," to +everything--sometimes laying at the same moment his hand on his heart, +and bowing with considerable grace. Behind this pair came another +interesting couple--viz. two servants on mules, with great saddle-bags +stuffed to extreme corpulence with provisions. + +It was a glorious morning--a gentle breeze sweeping on their faces as +they mounted the hills, but dying into silence in the deep valleys, +fresh, and glistening with dew. Sometimes they rode along a rocky +common, yellowed with a flowering shrub like furze--sometimes through +unfenced fields--sometimes along broad plains, where patches of +blossoming beans made the air rich with scent, and along which they +galloped full speed, the Governor standing high in the stirrups of his +demi-pique, the Senorita's white barb arching his neck till his muzzle +touched his chest under the pressure of the long bit, and my +grandfather prancing somewhat uneasily on his hard-mouthed Spanish +entero, whose nose was, for the most part, projected horizontally in +the air. The Major was not a first-rate seat--he rode with a long +stirrup, his heel well down, his leg straight, and slanting a little +forward, body upright, and elbows back, as may be seen in the plates +to ancient works on equitation--a posture imposing enough, but not +safe across country: galloping deranged it materially, for the steed +was hard-mouthed, and required a long, strong pull, with the body +back, and a good purchase on the stirrups. The animal had a most +voracious appetite, quite overcoming his sense of what was due to his +rider; and, on seeing a tuft of juicy grass, down went his nose, +drawing my grandfather, by means of the tight reins, well over the +pummel. On these occasions, the Major, feeling resistance to be in +vain, would sit looking easily about him, feigning to be absorbed in +admiration of the prospect--which was all very well, where there was a +prospect to look at, but wore a less plausible appearance when the +animal paused in a hollow between two hedges, or ran his nose +into a barn-door. But whenever this happened, Carlota, instead of +half-smothering a laugh, as a mischievous English girl would, ten to +one, have done, sat most patiently till the Major and his steed came +to an understanding, and would greet him, as they moved on again, with +a good-natured smile, that won her, each time, a higher place in his +estimation. + +Thus they proceeded till the sun rose high in the heavens, when, on +reaching a grove on the edge of one of the plains, they halted +under a huge cork-tree, near which ran a rivulet. The cavalcade +dismounted--the horses were tethered, the mules disburthened of the +saddle-bags, and the contents displayed under the tree; horse-cloths +and cloaks were spread around on the ground, and a fire of dry sticks +was lit on the edge of the stream with such marvellous celerity that, +before my grandfather had time to take more than a hasty survey of the +eatables, after seating himself on the root of a tree, a cup of +steaming chocolate was placed in his hand. + +"Confess, Major," said Garry, speaking with his mouth full of +sausage, "that a man may lose some of the pleasures of existence by +leading the life of a hermit. Don't you feel grateful to me for +dragging you out of your cobweb to such a pleasant place as this?" + +"'Tis an excellent breakfast," said my grandfather, who had just +assisted the Senorita Carlota to a slice of turkey's breast, and +himself to an entire leg and thigh--dividing with her, at the +same time, a crisp white loaf, having a handle like a teapot or +smoothing-iron--"and my appetite is really very good. I should be +perfectly easy if I could only understand the remarks of this very +agreeable lady, and make suitable replies." + +"Let me interpret your sentiments," said Garry; "and though I may not +succeed in conveying them in their original force and poetry, yet they +shall lose as little as possible in transmission. Just try me--what +would you wish to say?" + +"Why, really," said my grandfather, pondering, "I had a great many +things to say as we came along, but they've gone out of my head. Do +you think she ever read Shakespeare?" + +"Not a chance of it," said Owen. + +Here the Senorita laughingly appealed to Frank to know what my +grandfather was saying about her. + +"Ah," quoth my grandfather, quoting his friend Shakespeare-- + + "'I understand thy _looks_--the pretty Spanish + Which thou pourest down from these swelling heavens + I am _not_ perfect in----' + +"She's an extremely agreeable woman, Frank, I'll be sworn, if one only +understood her," quoth my grandfather, casting on her a glance full of +gallantry. + +The Ensign was not so entirely occupied in prosecuting his own +love affair as to be insensible to the facilities afforded him for +amusing himself at the Major's expense. Accordingly, he made a +speech in Spanish to Carlota, purporting to be a faithful translation +of my grandfather's, but teeming, in fact, with the most romantic +expressions of chivalrous admiration, as was apparent from the +frequent recurrence of the words "ojos" (eyes), "corazon" (heart), +and the like amatory currency. + +"There, Major," said the interpreter, as he finished; "I've told her +what you said of her." + +The Major endorsed the compliments by laying his hand upon his heart, +and bowing with a tender air. Whereupon Carlota, laughing, and +blushing a deeper red, made her acknowledgments. + +"She says," quoth Frank, "that she knew the English before to be a +gallant nation; but that if all the caballeros (that's gentlemen) of +that favoured race are equal to the present specimen, her own +countrymen must be thrown entirely into the shade." + +"Delightful!" cried my grandfather; but it is doubtful whether this +expression of pleasure was called forth by the sentiments attributed +to the Senorita, or by the crisp succulent tenderness of a mouthful of +sucking-pig which was at that moment spreading itself over his palate. + +Following up his idea, the mischievous Ensign continued to diversify +the graver pursuit of prosecuting his own suit with Juana, by +impressing Carlota and the Major with the idea that each was +disposed to think favourably of the other. In this he was tolerably +successful--the speeches he made to Carlota, supposed to originate +with my grandfather, had a very genuine warmth about them, being, in +fact, very often identical with those he had just been making, under +immediate inspiration, to his own divinity; while as for the Major, it +would have been an insult to the simplicity of that worthy man's +nature to exert any great ingenuity in deceiving him; it would have +been like setting a trap for a snail. So they journeyed on, highly +pleased with each other, and occasionally, in the absence of their +faithful interpreter, conversed by means of smiles and courteous +gesticulations, till my grandfather felt entirely at his ease, and was +almost sorry when, on the evening of the second day, they got to +Cadiz. + + +CHAPTER III. + +A whole city full of people condensed into one broad amphitheatre, all +bearing a national resemblance to each other in countenance and +costume, all apparently animated by the same spirit--for nothing could +be more unanimous than the applause which greeted a favourite +smilingly crossing the arena, the abuse which overwhelmed an object +offensive to the eye of the many-headed, or the ridicule which +descended in a joyous uproarious flood on the hapless individual in +whose appearance, dress, or manner, anything was detected calculated +to appeal to the highly sensitive risible faculty of a Spanish +assembly;--a gay and picturesque mixture of colours, waving and +tossing like a garden in a breeze, as the masses of white mantillas, +heads black as coal, decorated with flowers and green leaves, red +sashes, tufted sombreros, and yellow gaiters, with here and there a +blue-and-white soldier standing stiffly up, were agitated by each new +emotion--such was the scene that met the eyes of our travellers on +entering the bull-ring at Cadiz before the sport commenced. + +My grandfather had made his entry in spectacles--appendages highly +provocative of the public mirth--and had looked wonderingly for a +minute or two through the obnoxious glasses on a sea of faces +upturned, sideturned, and downturned, all looking at him, and all +shouting some indistinguishable chorus; while the men beat time, each +with the long, forked, painted stick, without which no Spaniard +possessing sentiments of propriety ever comes to a bull-fight, in a +manner most embarrassing to a somewhat bashful stranger, till their +attention was luckily diverted to an unhappy man in a white hat, in +derision of whom they immediately sang a song, the burden of which +was "El del sombrero blanco," (he of the white hat), the multitude +conducting itself throughout like one man. + +My grandfather and his friends occupied a distinguished position +in a box high above the multitude, and near that of the alcalde. +The Senorita Juana looked more lovely than ever in a white dress, +over which flowed a white gauzy mantilla, giving a kind of misty +indistinctness to the wavy outlines of her figure, and the warm tint +of her neck and arms. From her masses of black hair peeped one spot of +vivid white, a rosebud; and a green plumy leaf, a favourite ornament +with Spanish girls, drooped, bending, and soft as a feather, on one +side of her gold-and-tortoiseshell comb. The Major sat beside Carlota, +who, naturally frank, and looking upon him now as an old acquaintance, +would tap his arm most bewitchingly with her fan when she wanted to +direct his attention to any object of interest. So the Major sat by +her, all gallantry and smiles, gazing about him with wonder through +the double gold eyeglass, which still, in spite of the late expression +of popular feeling, bestrid his nose. He looked with the interest of a +child at everything--at the faces and dresses around him, distinct in +their proximity, and at those, confused in their details by distance, +on the opposite side of the arena. He shared in the distress of an +unfortunate person (a contractor for bulls, who had palmed some bad +ones on the public) who tried, as he walked conspicuously across +the ring, to smile off a torrent of popular execration about as +successfully as a lady might attempt to ward off Niagara with her +parasol, and who was, as it were, washed out at an opposite door, +drenched and sodden with jeers. And when the folding-gates were +opened, and the gay procession entered, my grandfather gazed on it +with delight, and shouted "Bravo!" as enthusiastically as if he had +been an habitual frequenter of bull-rings from his earliest youth. +First came the espadas or matadores, their hair clubbed behind like a +woman's, dressed in bright-coloured jackets, and breeches seamed with +broad silver lace, white stockings, shoes fastened with immense +rosettes, and having their waists girt with silk sashes, bearing on +their arms the blood-coloured cloaks that were to lure the bull upon +the sword-point. Next followed the chulos, similarly attired; then the +picadores, riding stiffly, with padded legs, on their doomed steeds; +and mules, whose office it was to drag off the dead bulls and horses, +harnessed three abreast as in classic chariots, and almost hidden +under a mass of gay housings, closed the procession. Marching across +the middle of the ring to the alcalde's box, they requested permission +to begin, and, it being granted, the picadores stationed themselves at +equal distances from each other round the circumference of the arena. +Then, at a signal from the alcalde, two trumpeters in scarlet, behind +him, stood up and sounded--a man, standing with his hand ready on a +bolt in a door underneath, drew it, and pulled the door swiftly back, +shutting himself into a niche, as the dark space thus opened was +filled by the formidable figure of a bull, who, with glancing horns +and tail erect, bounded out, and, looking around during one fierce +brief pause, made straight at the first picador. The cavalier, +standing straight in his stirrups, his lance tucked firmly under his +arm, fixed the point fairly in the shoulder of the brute, who, never +pausing for that, straightway upset man and horse. Then my grandfather +might be seen stretching far over the front of his box, his eyes +staring on the prostrate picador, and his hands clenched above his +head, while he shouted, "By the Lord, sir, he'll be killed!" And when +a chulo, darting alongside, waved his cloak before the bull's eyes and +lured him away, the Major, drawing a long breath, turned to a calm +Spaniard beside him, and said, "By heaven, sir, 'twas the mercy of +Providence!"--but the Spaniard, taking his cigar from his mouth, and +expelling the smoke through his nostrils, merely said, "Bien esta" +('tis very well.) Meanwhile, the bull (who, like his predecessor in +the china-shop, seemed to have it all his own way) had run his horn +into the heart of a second horse, and the picador, perceiving from the +shivering of the wounded creature that the hurt was mortal, dismounted +in all haste, while the horse, giving one long, blundering stagger, +fell over and died, and was immediately stript of his accoutrements. +This my grandfather didn't like at all; but, seeing no kindred disgust +in the faces round him, he nerved himself, considering that it was a +soldier's business to look on wounds and death. He even beheld, with +tolerable firmness, the spectacle of a horse dashing blindfold and +riderless, and mad with fear and pain, against the barrier--rebounding +whence to the earth with a broken shoulder, it was forced again on its +three legs, and led stumbling from the ring. But when he saw another +horse raised to its feet, and, all ript open as it was, spurred to a +second assault, the Major, who hadn't the heart himself to hurt a fly, +could stand it no longer, but, feeling unwell, retired precipitately +from the scene. On reaching the door, he wrote over the same, with a +bit of chalk, part of the speech of Henry V., "the royal imp of fame," +to his soldiers at Agincourt:-- + + "He that hath not stomach for the fight, + Let him depart----" + +to the great astonishment of the two Spanish sentries, who gazed on +the words as if they contained a magical spell. + +Frank sat till it was over--"played out the play." Not that he saw +much of the fight, however; he had eyes and speech for nothing but +Juana, and was able to indulge his _penchant_ without interruption, as +the little Governor took great interest in the fight, and the lover +with the silver fishes was a connoisseur in the sport, and laid bets +on the number of horses that each particular bull would kill with +great accuracy. So the Ensign had it all his own way, and, being by no +means the sort of person to throw away this or any other opportunity +with which fortune might favour him, got on quite as well, probably, +as you or I might have done in his place. + +Leaving Cadiz next morning, they resumed the order of march they had +adopted in coming--Don Pablo riding, as before, in front with the +knight of the silver fishes, discussing with him the incidents of the +bull-ring. The old gentleman, though very courteous when addressing +the two Englishmen, had but little to say to them--neither did he +trouble himself to talk much to the ladies; and when he did, a sharp +expression would sometimes slip out, convincing Owen that he was +something of a domestic tyrant in private--a character by no means +inconsistent with the blandest demeanour in public. The Ensign was at +great pains to encourage the Major to be gracious to Carlota. "Get a +little more tropical in your looks, Major," he would say; "these +Spanish ladies are not accustomed to frigid glances. She's desperately +in love with you--pity she can't express what she feels; and she +mightn't like to trust an interpreter with her sentiments." + +"Pooh, nonsense, boy," said the Major, colouring with pleasure, "she +doesn't care for an old fellow like me." + +"Doesn't she?--see what her eyes say--that's what I call ocular +demonstration," quoth the Ensign. "If you don't return it, you're a +stock, a stone." Then he would say something to Carlota, causing her +eyes to sparkle, and canter on to rejoin Juana. + +It was genial summer-time with Carlota--she had passed the age of +maiden diffidence, without having attained that of soured and faded +spinsterhood. She had a sort of jovial confidence in herself, and an +easy demeanour towards the male sex, such as is seen in widows. These +supposed advances of the Major were accordingly met by her rather more +than half-way. None but the Major was permitted to assist her into the +saddle, or to receive her plump form descending from it. None but the +Major was beckoned to her rein when the path was broken and perilous, +or caught on his protecting arm the pressure of her outstretched hand, +when her steed stumbled over the loose pebbles. None was repaid for a +slight courtesy by so many warm, confiding smiles as he. These, +following fast one on another, began to penetrate the rusty casing of +the Major's heart. On his own ground--that is, in his own quarters--he +could have given battle, successfully, to a score of such insidious +enemies: his books, his flowers, his pipe, his slippers, and a hundred +other Penates would have encircled him; but here, with all his strong +palisading of habit torn up and scattered, all his wonted trains of +ideas upset and routed by the novelty of situation and scenery, he lay +totally defenceless, and open to attack. The circumstance of himself +and Carlota being ignorant of each other's language, far from being an +obstacle to their mutual good-will, rather favoured its progress. In +company with an Englishwoman, in similar circumstances, my grandfather +would have considered himself bound to entertain her with his +conversation, and, perhaps, have spoiled all by trying to make himself +agreeable--it would have been a tax on the patience of both: but being +absolved from any such duty in the present instance, he could without +awkwardness ride onward in full and silent communion with his own +thoughts, and enjoy the pleasure of being smiled upon without being +at any pains to earn it. + +His note-book, containing an account of the expedition, which I have +seen--and whence, indeed, the greater part of this chronicle is +gathered--exhibits, at this period of the journey, sufficient proof +that the Major enjoyed this new state of being extremely, and felt +his intellect, his heart, and his stomach all stimulated at once. + +"Spain," says my grandfather, in a compendious descriptive sentence, +"is a country of garlicky odours, of dirty contentment, of XXXX +overburthened donkeys, and of excellent pork; but a fine air in the +hills, and the country much sweeter than the towns. The people don't +seem to know what comfort is, or cleanliness, but are nevertheless +very contented in their ignorance. My saddle is bad, I think, for +I dismounted very sore to-day. The Senorita mighty pleasant and +gracious. I entertain a great regard for her--no doubt a sensible +woman, as well as a handsome. A pig to-day at breakfast, the best +I have tasted in Spain." + +The desultory style of the composition of these notes prevents me +from quoting largely from them. Statistics, incidents of travel, +philosophic reflections, and the state of his digestive organs, are +all chronicled indiscriminately. But, from the above mixture of +sentiments, it will be perceived that the Major's admiration for +Carlota was of a sober nature, by no means ardent or Quixotic, and +pretty much on a par with his passion for pig. + +This was far from being the case with Garry, who became more and more +enamoured every hour. The Spanish lover continued to conduct himself +as if he had been married to Juana for twenty years, never troubling +himself to be particularly agreeable or attentive, for which obliging +conduct Garry felt very grateful to him. The Major had been too long +accustomed to witness Owen's philanderings to see anything peculiar in +the present case, till his attention was attracted by a little +incident he accidentally witnessed. After the last halt they made +before reaching Tarifa, Garry was, as usual, at hand, to assist Juana +to her saddle. Her horse was fastened in a thicket of oleanders, whose +flowers and leaves formed a screen such as Cupid himself might have +planted. Garry seized the charming opportunity to offer to re-tie the +ribbons of her hat, which was very considerate; for, to tie them +herself, she would have been obliged to take off her gloves, which +would have been a great trouble. Having done so, still retaining his +hold of the strings, he glanced quickly around, and then drew her +blooming face towards his own till their lips met--for which piece of +impudence he only suffered the slight penalty of a gentle tap with her +whip. My grandfather discreetly and modestly withdrew his eyes, but he +was not the only observer. He of the silver fishes was regarding them +with a fixed look from among some neighbouring trees, where he had +tethered his horse. Probably the Spaniard, with all his indifference, +thought this was carrying matters a little too far, for, after +conversing a moment with the Governor, he took his place at Juana's +side, and did not again quit it till they arrived at Tarifa. Then both +he and the Governor took leave of our travellers with a cold civility, +defying all Garry's attempts to thaw it, and seeming to forbid all +prospect of a speedy renewal of the acquaintance. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +At the inn, that night, the Major betook himself to rest early, that +he might be ready to start for Gibraltar betimes in the morning, for +on the following day their leave was to expire. + +He had slept soundly for several hours, when he was awoke by Owen, who +entered with a candle in his hand. The Major sat up in bed and rubbed +his eyes. + +"Time's up, my boy, eh?" said he, with a cavernous yawn. "I should +have liked another hour of it, but it can't be helped," (preparing to +turn out). + +"I didn't want to spoil your rest last night," said Owen, seating +himself on the edge of the bed, "so I said nothing about a mishap +that has occurred. That smuggling villain, Francisco, took advantage +of our absence to fetch a contraband cargo in the boat from Gibraltar, +and has been caught in attempting to run it here." + +"God bless me," said my grandfather, "who would have thought it!--and +he such a capital cook! But what's to be done? where's the boat?" + +"The boat is, for the present, confiscated," said Garry; "but I +daresay the Governor would let us have it in the morning, on +explaining, and would perhaps release Francisco, with the loss of +his cargo; but--but--in fact, Major, I don't want the Governor to +know anything about our departure." + +My grandfather stared at him, awaiting further explanation. + +"Juana looked pale last night," said the Ensign after a pause. + +The Major did not dispute the fact, though he could not, for the life +of him, see what the state of Juana's complexion had to do with the +subject. + +"She never liked that dingy Spanish lover of hers," said the Ensign, +"and her father intends she shall marry him in a month. 'Twould make +her miserable for life." + +"Dear me," said my grandfather, "how do you know that?" + +"She told me so. You see," said Owen, shading the candle with his +hand, so that my grandfather couldn't see his face, and speaking +hurriedly, "I didn't intend we should start alone--in fact--that +is--Juana has agreed to fly with me to Gibraltar." + +"Agreed!--fly!"--gasped my grandsire: "what an extraordinary young +fellow!" + +"She's waiting for us now," resumed Garry, gathering courage after the +first plunge into the subject; "we ought to be off before daylight. +Oblige me, my dear sir" (smiling irresistibly), "by getting up +immediately." + +"And how are we to get away," asked my grandfather, "supposing this +insane scheme of yours to be attempted?" + +"I've bribed the sentry at Francisco's place of durance," returned the +Ensign. "We shall get out of the town the instant the gates are +opened; and the boat is tied to the steps, as before, only under the +charge of a sentry whom we can easily evade. Every guarda costa in the +place was sent out last night to blockade a noted smuggler who has +taken refuge in Tangier; so, once out, we are safe from pursuit: I +found it all out after you had gone to bed." + +The disposition of Major Flinders, as the reader knows, was the +reverse of enterprising--he wouldn't have given a straw to be +concerned in the finest adventure that ever happened in romance. He +paused with one stocking on, inclined, like the little woman whose +garments had been curtailed by the licentious shears of the pedlar, to +doubt his own identity, and wondering if it could be really he, John +Flinders, to whom such a proposition was broached, requiring him to +assist in invading the peace of a family. As soon as he recovered his +powers of speech, of which astonishment had for a moment deprived him, +he began earnestly to dissuade the Ensign from the enterprise; but +Owen knew his man too well, and had too much youthful vivacity of will +to allow much time for remonstrance. + +"Look you, Major," said he, "I'm positive I can't live without Juana. +I'll make a bold stroke for a wife. The thing's settled--no going back +now for me; and I shall go through with it with or without you. But +you're not the man, I'm sure, to desert a fellow in extremity, at a +time, too, when the advantages of your experience and coolness are so +peculiarly needed. 'Call you that backing of your friends?'" + +The compliment, or the quotation, or both, softened the Major. "'Would +it were night, Hal, and all well,'" said he, half mechanically +following the Falstaffian train of ideas Owen had artfully conjured +up, and at the same time drawing on the breeches which that astute +youth obsequiously handed to him. + +It was still dark when they issued forth into the narrow and dingy +streets of Tarifa. My grandfather, totally unaccustomed to visit the +glimpses of the moon in this adventurous fashion, was full of strange +fears--heard as many imaginary suspicious noises and voices as +Bunyan's Pilgrim in the dark valley--and once or twice stopt abruptly +and grasped Owen's arm, while he pointed to a spy dogging them in the +distant gloom, who turned out to be a door-post. But Owen was now in +his element; no tom-cat in Tarifa was more familiar with housetops and +balconies at the witching hour than he, and he stepped gaily on. +Presently they were challenged by a sentry, to whom Owen promptly +advanced and slipped into his itching palm a doubloon, when the +trustworthy warrior immediately turned upon his heel, and, walking to +the extremity of his post, looked with great vigilance in the opposite +direction. + +Owen advanced to a grated window and tapped. Immediately the burly +face of Francisco showed itself thereat, his white teeth glancing +merrily in a glimmer of moonshine. A bar, previously filed through, +was removed from the window, and Owen, taking him by the collar to +assist his egress, drew him through as far as the third button of his +waistcoat, where he stuck for a moment; but the substance was elastic, +and a lusty tug landed him in the middle of the narrow street. +Receiving Frank's instructions given in a hurried whisper, to go at +once to where the boat lay, and cast her off, ready to shove off on +the instant, he nodded and disappeared in the darkness, while Owen and +the Major made for the Governor's house. + +Arrived near it, Owen gave a low whistle--a peculiar one, that my +grandfather remembered to have heard him practising to Juana on the +previous day--when, to the unutterable surprise of the Major, _two_ +veiled figures appeared on the balcony. + +"Why, Owen, boy, d'ye see!" quoth the Major, stuttering with anxiety, +"who can the other be?--her maid, eh?"--indistinct stage recollections +of intriguing waiting-women dawning on him. + +"Ahem!--why, you see, Major," whispered Owen, "she wouldn't come +alone--couldn't manage it at all, in fact, without the knowledge of +her aunt, who sleeps in the next room; so I persuaded Carlota _to come +too_, and gave her a sort of half promise that _you_ would _take care +of her_." Here, wishing to cut short a rather awkward explanation, he +ran under the balcony--one of the ladies dropped a cord--and Owen +producing from under his coat a rope ladder, (he had sat up all night +making it), attached it, and, as soon as it was drawn up, ascended, +motioning to my astounded grandfather to keep it steady below. The +Major, after a moment's desperate half-resolve to make a hasty retreat +from the perilous incidents which seemed momentarily to thicken round +him, and leave his reckless friend to his fate, yielded to the force +of circumstances, and did what was required of him. Then Owen lifted +the ladies, one after the other, over the railing of the balcony, and +they swiftly descended. First came Juana, who, scarcely touching the +Major's offered hand, lit on the pavement like gossamer; then Carlota +descended, and making, in her trepidation, a false step near the +bottom, came so heavily on the Major, that they rolled together on the +stones. By the time they were on their feet again, Owen had slipped +down the ladder, and, taking Juana under his arm, set off rapidly +towards the bay. + +If anything could have added to the Major's discomfiture and +embarrassment, it would have been the pressure of Carlota's arm on +his, as she hung confidingly on him--a pressure not proceeding from +her weight only, but active, and with a meaning in it; but he was +in that state of mental numbness from the successive shocks of +astonishment, that, as with a soldier after the first two dozen, any +additional laceration passed unheeded. He was embarked in an adventure +of which he could by no means see the end; all was strange and dark in +the foreground of his future; and if he had been at that moment tried, +cast, and condemned for an imaginary crime, he would have been too +apathetic to say anything in arrest of judgment. + +With the silence and swiftness of a forlorn hope, they passed through +the town and along the sandy causeway. The succession of white rolling +waves on their left, where extended the full breadth of the Straits, +while the bay on their right was almost smooth, showed the wind to be +still against them; but it was now so moderate that they might safely +beat up for the Rock. Arrived at the head of the stairs leading to the +water, they paused in the angle of the wall to reconnoitre. Francisco +was lying coiled up in the head of the boat, his hand on the rope, +ready to cast her loose, and the boat-hook projecting over the bow. +Above them, and behind the wall, at a little distance, they could hear +the measured tread of the sentry, and catch the gleam of his bayonet +as he turned upon his walk: a few vigorous shoves would carry them +outside the sea-wall and beyond his ken. All depended on their +silence; and like two stealthy cats did Owen and Juana descend to the +boat--the Major and Carlota watching the success of their attempt with +protruded necks. Cautiously did Owen stride from the last stair to the +deck--cautiously did he transfer Juana to the bark, and guide her aft. +The Major was just preparing to follow, when a noise from the boat +startled him: Juana had upset an unlucky wine-jar which Francisco had +left there. The sentry put his head over the wall, and challenged; +Francisco, starting up, shoved hastily off; the sentry fired his +piece, his bullet shattering the wine-jar that had caused the +mischief. Juana screamed, Owen swore in English, and Francisco +surpassed him in Spanish. There was no time to return or wait for the +other pair, for the guard was alarmed by the sentry's shot, and their +accoutrements might be heard rattling near at hand, as they turned +hastily out. Before they reached the wall, however, the boat had +disappeared. + +Major Flinders watched it till it was out of sight, and, at first, +experienced a feeling of despair at being thus deprived of the aid of +Garry's boldness and promptitude, and left to his own resources. +Presently, however, a gleam of comfort dawned upon him--perhaps +Carlota would now abandon the enterprise, and he should thus, at any +rate, be freed from the embarrassment her presence occasioned him. In +this hope he was shortly undeceived. To have added the shame of +failure and exposure to her present disappointment, while an opening +to persevere still remained, did not suit that lady's ardent spirit; +and whether it was that the unscrupulous Garry had really represented +the Major as very much in love, or whether such an impression resulted +from her own lively imagination, she certainly thought her companion +would be as much chagrined at such a denouement as herself. She +displayed a prompt decision in this emergency, being, indeed, as +remarkable for presence as the Major was for absence of mind. Taking +the Major's arm, she caused him swiftly to retrace his steps with +her to the inn where he had slept. As they retreated, they heard the +boom of a gun behind them, fired, doubtless, from the Point, at the +Fair Unknown. At Carlota's orders, a couple of horses, one with a +side-saddle, were speedily at the inn-door; they mounted, and, before +the sun was yet risen, had issued forth from the gate of Tarifa, on +the road to Gibraltar. + +The Major rode beside her like a man in a dream--in fact, he was +partly asleep, having been deprived of a large portion of his natural +and accustomed rest, and partly bewildered. A few days before he had +been the most methodical, unromantic, not to say humdrum, old bachelor +in his Majesty's service; and here he was, how or why he did not well +know, galloping away at daybreak with a foreign lady, of whose +existence he had been ignorant a week before, with the prospect of +being apprehended by her relatives for her abduction, and incarcerated +by the Government for assisting in the escape of a smuggler. When at +length roused to complete consciousness by the rapidity of their +motion, he positively groaned in anguish of spirit, and vowed +internally that, once within the shelter of his own quiet quarters, +nothing on earth should again tempt him forth on such harum-scarum +expeditions. + +It was near noon when they reached Algeciras, where they stopped to +breakfast, both of them rather exhausted with fatigue and hunger. This +town stands just opposite Gibraltar, across the bay--the road they had +come by forms the base of a triangle, of which Cabrita Point is the +apex, the bay washing one side of the projecting coast, the Straits +the other. The Major was reserved and embarrassed; there was a +tenderness about Carlota's manner that frightened him out of his usual +gallantry, and, to avoid meeting her glance, he looked steadily out of +the window at the rock of Gibraltar, casting wistful glances at the +spot where his quarters lay hidden in a little clump of foliage. +Immediately after the meal he quitted the room, on pretence of looking +after the horses. He determined to protract their stay in Algeciras +till late in the afternoon, that they might enter Gibraltar in the +dusk, and thus avoid awkward meetings with equestrian parties from the +garrison, who would then be hastening homewards, in order to be in +before gun-fire, when the gates are shut. + +On returning, still out of temper, to the room where he had left +Carlota, he found her, quite overcome with fatigue, asleep on the +sofa. Her head was thrown a little back on the cushion; her lips were +just parted, and she looked in her sleep like a weary child. The Major +approached on tiptoe, and stood regarding her. His ill-humour melted +fast into pity. He thought of all her kindness to him, and, by a +sudden soft-hearted impulse, took gently one of her hands projecting +over the side of the sofa. Carlota opened her eyes, and squeezed the +hand that held hers; whereupon the Major suddenly quitted his hold, +and, retreating with great discomposure to the window, did not venture +to look at her again till it was time to resume their journey. + +At a little distance from Algeciras is the river Palmones, called by +the English the Second River. This was crossed by a floating bridge, +pulled from shore to shore by a ferryman warping on a rope extended +across. They had just reached the opposite bank of the stream, when +Carlota noticed two horsemen galloping fast along the road they had +just traversed. A second glance showed them to be Don Pablo and the +lover of Juana. The first inquiries of the Governor had led him to +suppose that all had escaped in the boat, and it was not till some +time after that he had learned the true state of affairs. + +The fugitives now hastened on in earnest, and roused their horses to +a steady gallop, never pausing till they reached the Guadaranque, or +First River, about a mile nearer Gibraltar than the other, and +furnished with a similar bridge. The delay of the pursuers at the +former ferry had thrown them far in rear; and my grandfather, inspired +by the imminence of the peril, now conceived a bright idea--the +brightest, probably, that ever flashed upon him--by executing which +they might effectually distance their pursuers. Dropping his glove at +a little distance from the shore, he sent the ferryman to fetch it, +and then pushed off (Carlota having already embarked), and warped the +bridge to the opposite bank, heedless of the frantic gesticulations of +the proprietor, who screamed furiously after them to stop. When +he reached the opposite side, he took out his pocket-knife and +deliberately cut the rope. Having thus, as it were, blown up the +communication in his rear, my grandfather, without the loss of his +baggage, continued his retreat to the fortress; while the little +Governor, who galloped up just as they were disappearing, was, like +Lord Ullin, left lamenting. + +The sun was already declining, and threw their shadows far before them +on the sands, as they rode along the beach close to the water. The bay +at this inner extremity makes a great circular sweep--radii drawn from +the rock to different distant points of the arc would be almost equal; +and for half an hour they continued to see Gibraltar at nearly the +same distance to the right and in front of them, holding itself aloof +most provokingly. Twilight descended as they passed the Spanish lines +and entered on the Neutral Ground. The Major glanced anxiously at his +watch--in a few minutes the gun from Middle Hill would give the signal +for shutting the gates, and doom them irretrievably to return into +Spain for the night. For the first time in his life Major Flinders +really punished his horse, lifting the tired beast along with whip and +rein. Carlota's kept easily beside him under her lighter weight, and +they rapidly neared the barrier. Just as they passed it, a stream +of flame shot from the rock, illumining objects like a flash of +lightning;--then came the heavy report of the gun--another minute and +the drawbridge at Landport would be lifted; but they were upon it. +They dashed across somewhat in the style of Marmion quitting Douglas's +castle, "just as it trembled on the rise," and were safe in Gibraltar. + + +CHAPTER V. + +After life's fitful fever, the Major did not sleep well. He had left +Carlota comfortably established at the inn; and he now lay nervously +thinking how his embarrassment with regard to her was to terminate, +especially if Owen did not shortly make his appearance. Then he +was worried by doubts as to the fate of the Fair Unknown and her +passengers. They might have been recaptured, as escaped smugglers, by +a guarda costa--they might be detained in the Straits by adverse winds +or calms--they might have run ashore into some bay, and come on +overland. This last supposition haunted him most pertinaciously, and +he resolved to go up the rock as soon as it should be daylight, to +look out for them along the road from Spain. He lay tossing restlessly +till the morning gun gave the signal of the approach of dawn, and +before the echoes died away he had his breeches on. + +Night was at odds with morning when my grandfather, with a telescope +under his arm, sallied forth and began the ascent. Silence was over +the rock, except an occasional sighing of a remnant of night wind that +had lost itself among the crags. At first, the only clear outline +visible was that of the rugged edge of the rock above against the +colourless sky; but as he toiled up the steep zigzag path, the +day kept pace with him--each moment threw a broader light on the +scene--blots of shadow became bushes or deep fissures, and new shapes +of stone glided into view. The only symptoms of animal life that he +beheld were a rabbit that fled silently to his hole, and a great white +vulture that, startled from his perch on a grey crag, sailed slowly +upward on his black-tipped wings, circling higher and higher, till his +breast was crimsoned by the yet unrisen sun. + +The path led diagonally to the summit; and, turning a sharp level +corner, my grandfather looked perpendicularly down on the XXXX +Mediterranean, whose lazy waves, sending up a gentle murmur, rippled +far below him. On his left, also steep down below him, was the +Neutral Ground, level as the sea itself, extending northward into +sandy plains, abruptly crossed by tumbled heaps of brown mountains. A +reddening of the sky showed that the sun was at hand; and presently +the glowing disk came swiftly up from behind the eastern hills; the +pale earth shared in the ruddiness of the sky, and a long rosy gleam +swept gradually over the breadth of the grey sea, like an unwilling +smile spreading itself from a man's lips to his eyes and forehead. + +Conspicuous on the highest point in the landscape stood my +grandfather, panting with his exertions as he wiped his forehead. +After standing for a moment, bronzed in front like a smith at the +furnace, face to face with the sun, he turned and swept with his +telescope the road into Spain. Early peasants, microscopic as ants, +were bringing their fruits and vegetables into the fortress--a laden +mule or two advanced along the beach over which the Major had last +night galloped--but nothing resembling what he sought was in sight. +Then turning completely round, with his face to the path he had just +ascended, he gave a long look towards the Straits; and as he did so, +the wind, which had shifted to the south-west towards morning, blew +gently on his face. A sail or two was discernible in the distance, +outward bound, but nothing resembling the cutter. As the Major +looked, a signal was made from Cabrita, and directly two feluccas +left their station at Algeciras, and swooped out, like two white +birds, as if to intercept some bark yet hidden by the Point. Again my +grandfather looked out to the Strait, and presently a small white +sail came in sight near Cabrita. For a quarter of an hour he stood +steadily, with levelled telescope, and then he was almost sure--yes, +he could swear--that he saw the small English ensign relieved against +the sail; and above, at the masthead, the yellow-striped flag that +Francisco hoisted before as the mark of a yacht. It was the Fair +Unknown--and my grandfather at once comprehended that the pursuers, +whom he had escaped the night before, had, on returning to Algeciras, +made arrangements for her capture as soon as she should appear. + +The breeze was on her beam, and much fresher with her than farther in +the bay, so that the feluccas steered slantingly across her course as +she made for the rock. They held on thus, the pursuers and pursued, +till within a mile of each other, when the cutter suddenly altered her +course to one nearly parallel with that of the feluccas. The latter, +however, now gained fast upon her, and presently a puff of smoke from +the bow of the foremost was followed by the report of a gun. My +grandfather could look no longer through his glass, for his hand shook +like a reed, but began, with huge strides, more resembling those of +a kangaroo than a quiet middle-aged gentleman, to descend the rock. +Breathless, he reached his quarters, had his horse saddled and brought +out, and galloped off towards Europa. + +Europa Point is at the southern extremity of the rock, and commands at +once the entrance of the bay and the passage of the Straits. The road +to it from the north, where the Major was quartered, affords, for the +most part, a view of the bay. Many an anxious glance did he cast, as +he sped along, at the state of affairs on the water. The feluccas +fired several shots, but all seemed to fall wide, and were probably +intended only to frighten the chase, out of consideration for her fair +freight. Still, however, the English colours floated, and still the +cutter held her course. + +Some artillerymen and an officer were assembled at the Point as the +Major galloped up. + +"Can't you fire at 'em?" said he, as he drew up beside the battery. + +"Too far off," said the Lieutenant, rising from the parapet on which +he was leaning, and showing a drowsy unshaven countenance; "we should +only frighten them." + +"By heavens!" said my grandfather, "'tis horrible. I shall see the boy +taken before my eyes!" + +"Boy!" quoth the Lieutenant, wondering what particular interest the +Major could take in the smuggler. "What boy?" + +"Why, Owen of ours--he's running away with a Spanish lady." + +"The devil!" cried the Lieutenant, jumping down. "What, Garry +Owen!--we must try a long shot. Pull those quoins out" (to a gunner). +"Corporal, lay that gun; a dollar if you hit the felucca. I'll try a +shot with this one." So saying, he laid the thirty-two pounder next +him with great care. + +"Fire!" said he, jumping on the parapet to see the effect of the shot. +At the second rebound it splashed under the bows of the leading +felucca, which still held on. She was now scarcely three hundred yards +from the cutter. + +"Why, d--n their impudence!" muttered the Lieutenant, on seeing his +warning pass unheeded, "they won't take a hint. Corporal, let drive at +'em." + +The Corporal earned his dollar. The shot went through the side of the +felucca, on board of which all was presently confusion; in a few +minutes it was apparent she was sinking. The other, abandoning the +chase, went to the assistance of her consort, lifting the crew out, +some of whom were evidently hurt. + +"A blessed shot!" cried my grandfather, giving the lucky Corporal a +bit of gold; "but I'm glad they're picking up the crew." + +The cutter instantly stood in for the harbour, and half an hour +afterwards the Major bade his young friend and Juana welcome to +Gibraltar. + +Carlota was beside herself with joy at seeing the wanderers safe. She +first cast herself upon Juana, and cried over her; then embraced the +Ensign, who made no scruple of kissing her; lastly, threw herself +tenderly upon the Major, who gazed over her head as it lay on his +shoulder with a dismayed expression, moving his arms uneasily, as if +he didn't know what he was expected to do with them. Every moment it +was becoming clearer to him that he was a compromised man, no longer +his own property. On his way through the streets that morning he had +passed a knot of officers, one of whom he overheard describing "Old +Flinders" as "a sly old boy," for that he "had run away with a +devilish handsome Spaniard--who would have thought it?" "Ay, who +indeed!" groaned the Major, internally. But the seal was put to his +doom by the Colonel, who, when he went to report himself, slapped him +on the shoulder, and congratulated him on his happiness. "Fine woman, +I hear, Flinders--didn't give you credit for such spirit--hope you'll +be happy together." The Major, muttering an inarticulate denial, +hastily retreated, and from that moment surrendered himself to his +fate an unresisting victim. + +About dusk that night, Owen came to him. + +"By heavens!" the Ensign began, throwing himself into a chair, "I'm +the most unlucky scoundrel! Nothing goes right with me. I promised +myself that this should be my wedding-night--and here I am, as +forlorn a bachelor as ever." + +"What has gone wrong?" inquired my grandfather, removing his pipe from +his mouth. + +"I pressed her with all my eloquence," said Owen; "reminded her of her +promise to marry me the day we should arrive here--of the necessity of +caring for her reputation, after leaving her father's house and coming +here under my protection" (here my grandfather winced;) "talked, in +fact, like an angel who had been bred a special pleader--yet it was +all of no use." + +"Deliberating about marriage!" said the Major, "after leaving her +father and lover for you! What gnat can she be straining at, after +swallowing a camel of such magnitude?" + +"A piece of female Quixotry," returned Owen. "She says she can't think +of such selfishness as being comfortably married herself, while +Carlota is so unhappy, and her fate so unsettled." Here he made a +significant pause; but my grandfather was immovably silent, only +glancing nervously at him, and smoking very hard. + +"In fact, she protests she won't hear of marrying me, till you have +settled when you will marry Carlota." + +"Marry Carlota!" gasped the Major in an agonised whisper. + +"Why, you don't mean to say you're not going to marry her!" exclaimed +the Ensign, throwing a vast quantity of surprise into his expressive +countenance. + +"Why--why, what should I marry her for?" stammered the Major. + +"Oh, Lord!" said Garry, "here will be pleasant news for her! Curse me +if I break it to her." + +"But really now, Frank," the Major repeated--"marriage, you know--why, +I never thought of such a thing." + +"You're the only person that hasn't, then," rejoined Owen. "Why, what +can the garrison think, after the way you smuggled her in; what can +she herself think, after all your attentions?" + +"Attentions, my dear boy;--the merest civility." + +"Oh,--ah! 'twas civility, I suppose, to squeeze her hand in the inn at +Algeciras, in the way she told Juana of--and heaven knows what else +you may have done during the flight. Juana is outrageous against +you--actually called you a vile deceiver; but Carlota's feeling is +more of sorrow than of anger. She is persuaded that nothing but your +ignorance of Spanish has prevented your tongue from confirming what +your looks have so faithfully promised. I was really quite affected +to-day at the appealing look she cast on me after you left the room; +she evidently expected me to communicate her destiny." + +My grandfather smoked hard. + +"Lots of fellows would give their ears for such a wife," pursued the +Ensign. "Lovelace, the Governor's aide-de-camp, bribed the waiter of +the hotel to lend him his apron to-day, at dinner, that he might come +in and look at her--swears she's a splendid woman, and that he'd run +away with such another to-morrow." + +Still my grandfather smoked hard, but said nothing, though there was a +slight gleam of pride in his countenance. + +"Poor thing!" sighed Garry. "All her prospects blighted for ever. +Swears she never can love another." + +At this my grandfather's eyes grew moist, and he coughed as if he had +swallowed some tobacco-smoke. + +"And as for me, to have Juana at my lips, as it were, and yet not +mine--for she's as inflexible as if she'd been born a Mede or +Persian--to know that you are coming between me and happiness as +surely as if you were an inexorable father or a cruel guardian--worse, +indeed; for those might be evaded. Major, major, have you no +compassion!--two days of this will drive me crazy." + +The Major changed his pipe from his right hand to his left, and, +stretching the former across the table, sympathetically pressed that +of the Ensign. + +"Do, Major," quoth Garry, changing his flank movement for a direct +attack--"do consent to make yourself and me happy; do empower me to +negotiate for our all going to church to-morrow." (My grandfather gave +a little jump in his chair at this, as if he were sitting on a pin.) +"I'll manage it all, you shan't have the least trouble in the matter." + +My grandfather spoke not. + +"Silence gives consent," said the Ensign, rising. "Come, now, if you +don't forbid me, I'll depart on my embassy at once; you needn't speak, +I'll spare your blushes. I see this delay has only been from modesty, +or perhaps a little ruse on your part. Once, twice, thrice,--I go." +And he vanished. + +The Major remained in his chair, in the same posture. His pipe was +smoked out, but he continued to suck absently at the empty tube. His +bewilderment and perturbation were so great that, though he sat up +till two in the morning, during which time he smoked eleven pipes, and +increased the two glasses of grog with which he was accustomed to +prepare for his pillow to four, he was still, when he went to bed, +as agitated as ever. + +In this state of mind he went to the altar, for next day a double +ceremony was performed, making Owen happy with Juana, and giving +Carlota a husband and me a grandfather. The Major was more like a +proxy than a principal in the affair; for Owen, taking the entire +management upon himself, left him little more to do than to make the +necessary responses. + +Carlota made a very good-tempered, quiet, inobtrusive helpmate, and +continued to be fond of her spouse even after he was a grey-headed +colonel. My grandfather, though credulous in most matters, could with +difficulty be brought to consider himself married. He would sometimes +seem to forget the circumstance for a whole day together, till it came +to be forced on his recollection at bed-time. And when, about a year +after his marriage, a new-born female Flinders (now my venerable aunt) +was brought one morning by the nurse for his inspection and approval, +he gazed at it with a puzzled air, and could not be convinced that he +was actually in the presence of his own flesh and blood, till he +had touched the cheek of his first-born with the point of his +tobacco-pipe, removed from his mouth for that purpose, making on +the infant's countenance a small indentation. + +The little Governor, Don Pablo, was subsequently induced to forgive +his relatives, and frequent visits and attentions were interchanged, +till the commencement of the siege put a stop to all intercourse +between Gibraltar and Spain. + +I have often, on a summer's evening, sat looking across the bay at a +gorgeous sunset, and retracing in imagination the incidents I have +related. My grandfather's establishment was broken up during the siege +by the enemy's shells, but a similar one now stands on what I think +must have been about the site of it. The world has changed since +then; but Spain is no land of change; and, looking on the imperishable +outline of the Andalucian hills, unaltered, probably, since a time to +which the period of my tale is but as yesterday, it is easy for me to +"daff aside" the noisy world without, and, dropping quietly behind the +age, to picture to myself my old-fashioned grandfather issuing forth +from yonder white-walled town of Algeciras with his future bride. + + + + +THE IRON SHROUD. + +BY WILLIAM MUDFORD. + +[_MAGA._ AUGUST 1830.] + + +The castle of the Prince of Tolfi was built on the summit of the +towering and precipitous rock of Scylla, and commanded a magnificent +view of Sicily in all its grandeur. Here, during the wars of the +middle ages, when the fertile plains of Italy were devastated by +hostile factions, those prisoners were confined, for whose ransom a +costly price was demanded. Here, too, in a dungeon, excavated deep in +the solid rock, the miserable victim was immured, whom revenge +pursued,--the dark, fierce, and unpitying revenge of an Italian heart. + +VIVENZIO--the noble and the generous, the fearless in battle, and the +pride of Naples in her sunny hours of peace--the young, the brave, the +proud Vivenzio, fell beneath this subtle and remorseless spirit. He +was the prisoner of Tolfi, and he languished in that rock-encircled +dungeon, which stood alone, and whose portals never opened twice upon +a living captive. + +It had the semblance of a vast cage, for the roof, and floor, and +sides, were of iron, solidly wrought, and spaciously constructed. High +above there ran a range of seven grated windows, guarded with massy +bars of the same metal, which admitted light and air. Save these, and +the tall folding-doors beneath them which occupied the centre, no +chink, or chasm, or projection, broke the smooth black surface of the +walls. An iron bedstead, littered with straw, stood in one corner: and +beside it, a vessel with water, and a coarse dish filled with coarser +food. + +Even the intrepid soul of Vivenzio shrunk with dismay as he entered +this abode, and heard the ponderous doors triple-locked by the silent +ruffians who conducted him to it. Their silence seemed prophetic of +his fate, of the living grave that had been prepared for him. His +menaces and his entreaties, his indignant appeals for justice, and his +impatient questioning of their intentions, were alike vain. They +listened, but spoke not. Fit ministers of a crime that should have no +tongue! + +How dismal was the sound of their retiring steps! And, as their faint +echoes died along the winding passages, a fearful presage grew within +him, that never more the face, or voice, or tread, of man, would greet +his senses. He had seen human beings for the last time! And he had +looked his last upon the bright sky, and upon the smiling earth, and +upon a beautiful world he loved, and whose minion he had been! Here +he was to end his life--a life he had just begun to revel in! And by +what means? By secret poison? or by murderous assault? No--for then it +had been needless to bring him thither. Famine perhaps--a thousand +deaths in one! It was terrible to think of it; but it was yet more +terrible to picture long, long years of captivity, in a solitude so +appalling, a loneliness so dreary, that thought, for want of +fellowship, would lose itself in madness, or stagnate into idiocy. + +He could not hope to escape, unless he had the power, with his bare +hands, of rending asunder the solid iron walls of his prison. He could +not hope for liberty from the relenting mercies of his enemy. His +instant death, under any form of refined cruelty, was not the object +of Tolfi, for he might have inflicted it, and he had not. It was too +evident, therefore, he was reserved for some premeditated scheme of +subtle vengeance; and what vengeance could transcend in fiendish +malice, either the slow death of famine, or the still slower one of +solitary incarceration, till the last lingering spark of life expired, +or till reason fled, and nothing should remain to perish but the brute +functions of the body? + +It was evening when Vivenzio entered his dungeon, and the approaching +shades of night wrapped it in total darkness, as he paced up and down, +revolving in his mind these horrible forebodings. No tolling bell +from the castle, or from any neighbouring church or convent, struck +upon his ear to tell how the hours passed. Frequently he would stop +and listen for some sound that might betoken the vicinity of man; but +the solitude of the desert, the silence of the tomb, are not so still +and deep as the oppressive desolation by which he was encompassed. His +heart sank within him, and he threw himself dejectedly down upon his +couch of straw. Here sleep gradually obliterated the consciousness of +misery, and bland dreams wafted his delighted spirit to scenes which +were once glowing realities for him, in whose ravishing illusions he +soon lost the remembrance that he was Tolfi's prisoner. + +When he awoke, it was daylight; but how long he had slept he knew not. +It might be early morning, or it might be sultry noon, for he could +measure time by no other note of its progress than light and darkness. +He had been so happy in his sleep, amid friends who loved him, and the +sweeter endearments of those who loved him as friends could not, that +in the first moments of waking, his startled mind seemed to admit the +knowledge of his situation, as if it had burst upon it for the first +time, fresh in all its appalling horrors. He gazed round with an air +of doubt and amazement, and took up a handful of the straw upon which +he lay, as though he would ask himself what it meant. But memory, too +faithful to her office, soon unveiled the melancholy past, while +reason, shuddering at the task, flashed before his eyes the tremendous +future. The contrast overpowered him. He remained for some time +lamenting, like a truth, the bright visions that had vanished; and +recoiling from the present, which clung to him as a poisoned garment. + +When he grew more calm, he surveyed his gloomy dungeon. Alas! the +stronger light of day only served to confirm what the gloomy +indistinctness of the preceding evening had partially disclosed, the +utter impossibility of escape. As, however, his eyes wandered round +and round, and from place to place, he noticed two circumstances which +excited his surprise and curiosity. The one, he thought, might be +fancy; but the other was positive. His pitcher of water, and the dish +which contained his food, had been removed from his side while he +slept, and now stood near the door. Were he even inclined to doubt +this, by supposing he had mistaken the spot where he saw them +over-night, he could not, for the pitcher now in his dungeon was +neither of the same form nor colour as the other, while the food was +changed for some other of better quality. He had been visited, +therefore, during the night. But how had the person obtained entrance? +Could he have slept so soundly, that the unlocking and opening of +those ponderous portals were effected without waking him? He would +have said this was not possible, but that in doing so, he must admit +a greater difficulty, an entrance by other means, of which he was +convinced there existed none. It was not intended, then, that he +should be left to perish from hunger. But the secret and mysterious +mode of supplying him with food, seemed to indicate he was to have no +opportunity of communicating with a human being. + +The other circumstance which had attracted his notice, was the +disappearance, as he believed, of one of the seven grated windows that +ran along the top of his prison. He felt confident that he had +observed and counted them; for he was rather surprised at their +number, and there was something peculiar in their form, as well as in +the manner of their arrangement, at unequal distances. It was so much +easier, however, to suppose he was mistaken, than that a portion of +the solid iron, which formed the walls, could have escaped from its +position, that he soon dismissed the thought from his mind. + +Vivenzio partook of the food that was before him, without +apprehension. It might be poisoned; but if it were he knew he could +not escape death, should such be the design of Tolfi, and the quickest +death would be the speediest release. + +The day passed wearily and gloomily; though not without a faint hope +that, by keeping watch at night, he might observe when the person came +again to bring him food, which he supposed he would do in the same +way as before. The mere thought of being approached by a living +creature, and the opportunity it might present of learning the doom +prepared, or preparing, for him, imparted some comfort. Besides, if he +came alone, might he not in a furious onset overpower him? Or he might +be accessible to pity, or the influence of such munificent rewards as +he could bestow, if once more at liberty and master of himself. Say he +were armed. The worst that could befall, if nor bribe, nor prayers, +nor force prevailed, was a friendly blow, which, though dealt in a +damned cause, might work a desired end. There was no chance so +desperate, but it looked lovely in Vivenzio's eyes, compared with the +idea of being totally abandoned. + +The night came, and Vivenzio watched. Morning came, and Vivenzio was +confounded! He must have slumbered without knowing it. Sleep must have +stolen over him when exhausted by fatigue, and in that interval of +feverish repose, he had been baffled: for there stood his replenished +pitcher of water, and there his day's meal! Nor was this all. Casting +his looks towards the windows of his dungeon, he counted but FIVE! +_Here_ was no deception; and he was now convinced there had been none +the day before. But what did all this portend? Into what strange and +mysterious den had he been cast? He gazed till his eyes ached; he +could discover nothing to explain the mystery. That it was so, he +knew. Why it was so, he racked his imagination in vain to conjecture. +He examined the doors. A simple circumstance convinced him they had +not been opened. + +A wisp of straw, which he had carelessly thrown against them the +preceding day, as he paced to and fro, remained where he had cast it, +though it must have been displaced by the slightest motion of either +of the doors. This was evidence that could not be disputed; and it +followed there must be some secret machinery in the walls by which a +person could enter. He inspected them closely. They appeared to him +one solid and compact mass of iron; or joined, if joined they were, +with such nice art, that no mark of division was perceptible. Again +and again he surveyed them--and the floor--and the roof--and that +range of visionary windows, as he was now almost tempted to consider +them: he could discover nothing, absolutely nothing, to relieve his +doubts or satisfy his curiosity. Sometimes he fancied that altogether +the dungeon had a more contracted appearance--that it looked smaller; +but this he ascribed to fancy, and the impression naturally produced +upon his mind by the undeniable disappearance of two of the windows. + +With intense anxiety, Vivenzio looked forward to the return of night; +and as it approached, he resolved that no treacherous sleep should +again betray him. Instead of seeking his bed of straw, he continued +to walk up and down his dungeon till daylight, straining his eyes in +every direction through the darkness, to watch for any appearances +that might explain these mysteries. While thus engaged, and as nearly +as he could judge (by the time that afterwards elapsed before the +morning came in), about two o'clock, there was a slight tremulous +motion of the floors. He stooped. The motion lasted nearly a minute; +but it was so extremely gentle, that he almost doubted whether it was +real, or only imaginary. He listened. Not a sound could be heard. +Presently, however, he felt a rush of cold air blow upon him; and +dashing towards the quarter whence it seemed to proceed, he stumbled +over something which he judged to be the water ewer. The rush of cold +air was no longer perceptible; and as Vivenzio stretched out his +hands, he found himself close to the walls. He remained motionless for +a considerable time; but nothing occurred during the remainder of the +night to excite his attention, though he continued to watch with +unabated vigilance. + +The first approaches of the morning were visible through the grated +windows, breaking, with faint divisions of light, the darkness that +still pervaded every other part, long before Vivenzio was enabled to +distinguish any object in his dungeon. Instinctively and fearfully he +turned his eyes, hot and inflamed with watching, towards them. There +were FOUR! He could _see_ only four: but it might be that some +intervening object prevented the fifth from becoming perceptible; and +he waited impatiently to ascertain if it were so. As the light +strengthened, however, and penetrated every corner of the cell, other +objects of amazement struck his sight. On the ground lay the broken +fragments of the pitcher he had used the day before, and at a small +distance from them, nearer to the wall, stood the one he had noticed +the first night. It was filled with water, and beside it was his food. +He was now certain that, by some mechanical contrivance, an opening +was obtained through the iron wall, and that through this opening the +current of air had found entrance. But how noiseless! For had a +feather almost waved at the time, he must have heard it. Again he +examined that part of the wall; but both to sight and touch it +appeared one even and uniform surface, while to repeated and violent +blows there was no reverberating sound indicative of hollowness. + +This perplexing mystery had for a time withdrawn his thoughts from the +windows; but now, directing his eyes again towards them, he saw that +the fifth had disappeared in the same manner as the preceding two, +without the least distinguishable alteration of external appearances. +The remaining four looked as the seven had originally looked; that is, +occupying, at irregular distances, the top of the wall on that side +of the dungeon. The tall folding-door, too, still seemed to stand +beneath, in the centre of these four, as it had at first stood in +the centre of the seven. But he could no longer doubt, what, on the +preceding day, he fancied might be the effect of visual deception. +The dungeon _was_ smaller. The roof had lowered--and the opposite ends +had contracted the intermediate distance by a space equal, he thought, +to that over which the three windows had extended. He was bewildered +in vain imaginings to account for these things. Some frightful +purpose--some devilish torture of mind or body--some unheard-of device +for producing exquisite misery, lurked, he was sure, in what had taken +place. + +Oppressed with this belief, and distracted more by the dreadful +uncertainty of whatever fate impended, than he could be dismayed, he +thought, by the knowledge of the worst, he sat ruminating, hour after +hour, yielding his fears in succession to every haggard fancy. At last +a horrible suspicion flashed suddenly across his mind, and he started +up with a frantic air. "Yes!" he exclaimed, looking wildly round his +dungeon, and shuddering as he spoke--"Yes! it must be so! I see it!--I +feel the maddening truth like scorching flames upon my brain! Eternal +God!--support me! it must be so!--Yes, yes, _that_ is to be my fate! +Yon roof will descend!--these walls will hem me round--and slowly, +slowly, crush me in their iron arms! Lord God! look down upon me, and +in mercy strike me with instant death! Oh, fiend--oh, devil--is this +your revenge?" + +He dashed himself upon the ground in agony;--tears burst from him, and +the sweat stood in large drops upon his face--he sobbed aloud--he tore +his hair--he rolled about like one suffering intolerable anguish of +body, and would have bitten the iron floor beneath him; he breathed +fearful curses upon Tolfi, and the next moment passionate prayers to +heaven for immediate death. Then the violence of his grief became +exhausted, and he lay still, weeping as a child would weep. The +twilight of departing day shed its gloom around him ere he arose from +that posture of utter and hopeless sorrow. He had taken no food. Not +one drop of water had cooled the fever of his parched lips. Sleep had +not visited his eyes for six-and-thirty hours. He was faint with +hunger; weary with watching, and with the excess of his emotions. He +tasted of his food; he drank with avidity of the water; and reeling +like a drunken man to his straw, cast himself upon it to brood again +over the appalling image that had fastened itself upon his almost +frenzied thoughts. + +He slept. But his slumbers were not tranquil. He resisted, as long as +he could, their approach; and when, at last, enfeebled nature yielded +to their influence, he found no oblivion from his cares. Terrible +dreams haunted him--ghastly visions harrowed up his imagination--he +shouted and screamed, as if he already felt the dungeon's ponderous +roof descending on him--he breathed hard and thick, as though writhing +between its iron walls. Then would he spring up--stare wildly about +him--stretch forth his hands, to be sure he yet had space enough to +live--and, muttering some incoherent words, sink down again, to pass +through the same fierce vicissitudes of delirious sleep. + +The morning of the fourth day dawned upon Vivenzio. But it was high +noon before his mind shook off its stupor, or he awoke to a full +consciousness of his situation. And what a fixed energy of despair sat +upon his pale features, as he cast his eyes upwards, and gazed upon +the THREE windows that now alone remained! The three!--there were no +more!--and they seemed to number his own allotted days. Slowly and +calmly he next surveyed the top and sides, and comprehended all the +meaning of the diminished height of the former, as well as of the +gradual approximation of the latter. The contracted dimensions of his +mysterious prison were now too gross and palpable to be the juggle of +his heated imagination. Still lost in wonder at the means, Vivenzio +could put no cheat upon his reason, as to the end. By what horrible +ingenuity it was contrived, that walls, and roof, and windows, should +thus silently and imperceptibly, without noise, and without motion +almost, fold, as it were, within each other, he knew not. He only +knew they did so; and he vainly strove to persuade himself it was the +intention of the contriver, to rack the miserable wretch who might be +immured there with anticipation, merely, of a fate, from which, in the +very crisis of his agony, he was to be reprieved. + +Gladly would he have clung even to this possibility, if his heart +would have let him; but he felt a dreadful assurance of its fallacy. +And what matchless inhumanity it was to doom the sufferer to such +lingering torments--to lead him day by day to so appalling a death, +unsupported by the consolations of religion, unvisited by any human +being, abandoned to himself, deserted of all, and denied even the sad +privilege of knowing that his cruel destiny would awaken pity! Alone +he was to perish!--alone he was to wait a slow coming torture, whose +most exquisite pangs would be inflicted by that very solitude and that +tardy coming! + +"It is not death I fear," he exclaimed, "but the death I must prepare +for! Methinks, too, I could meet even that--all horrible and revolting +as it is--if it might overtake me now. But where shall I find +fortitude to tarry till it come? How can I outlive the three long days +and nights I have to live? There is no power within me to bid the +hideous spectre hence--none to make it familiar to my thoughts; or +myself, patient of its errand. My thoughts, rather, will flee from me, +and I grow mad in looking at it. Oh! for a deep sleep to fall upon +me! That so, in death's likeness, I might embrace death itself, and +drink no more of the cup that is presented to me, than my fainting +spirit has already tasted!" + +In the midst of these lamentations, Vivenzio noticed that his +accustomed meal, with the pitcher of water, had been conveyed, as +before, into his dungeon. But this circumstance no longer excited his +surprise. His mind was overwhelmed with others of a far greater +magnitude. It suggested, however, a feeble hope of deliverance; and +there is no hope so feeble as not to yield some support to a heart +bending under despair. He resolved to watch, during the ensuing night, +for the signs he had before observed; and should he again feel the +gentle, tremulous motion of the floor, or the current of air, to seize +that moment for giving audible expression to his misery. Some person +must be near him, and within reach of his voice, at the instant when +his food was supplied; some one, perhaps, susceptible of pity. Or if +not, to be told even that his apprehensions were just, and that his +fate _was_ to be what he foreboded, would be preferable to a suspense +which hung upon the possibility of his worst fears being visionary. + +The night came; and as the hour approached when Vivenzio imagined he +might expect the signs, he stood fixed and silent as a statue. He +feared to breathe, almost, lest he might lose any sound which would +warn him of their coming. While thus listening, with every faculty of +mind and body strained to an agony of attention, it occurred to him he +should be more sensible of the motion, probably, if he stretched +himself along the iron floor. He accordingly laid himself softly down, +and had not been long in that position when--yes--he was certain of +it--the floor moved under him! He sprang up, and in a voice suffocated +nearly with emotion, called aloud. He paused--the motion ceased--he +felt no stream of air--all was hushed--no voice answered to his--he +burst into tears, and as he sank to the ground, in renewed anguish, +exclaimed--"Oh, my God! my God! You alone have power to save me now, +or strengthen me for the trial you permit." + +Another morning dawned upon the wretched captive, and the fatal index +of his doom met his eyes. Two windows!--and _two_ days--and all would +be over! Fresh food--fresh water! The mysterious visit had been paid, +though he had implored it in vain. But how awfully was his prayer +answered in what he now saw! The roof of the dungeon was within a foot +of his head. The two ends were so near, that in six paces he trod the +space between them. Vivenzio shuddered as he gazed, and as his steps +traversed the narrowed area. But his feelings no longer vented +themselves in frantic wailings. With folded arms, and clenched teeth, +with eyes that were bloodshot from much watching, and fixed with a +vacant glare upon the ground, with a hard quick breathing, and a +hurried walk, he strode backwards and forwards in silent musing for +several hours. What mind shall conceive, what tongue utter, or what +pen describe the dark and terrible character of his thoughts? Like the +fate that moulded them, they had no similitude in the wide range of +this world's agony for man. Suddenly he stopped, and his eyes were +riveted upon that part of the wall which was over his bed of straw. +Words are inscribed there! A human language, traced by a human hand! +He rushes towards them; but his blood freezes as he reads:-- + +"I, Ludovico Sforza, tempted by the gold of the Prince of Tolfi, spent +three years in contriving and executing this accursed triumph of my +art. When it was completed, the perfidious Tolfi, more devil than man, +who conducted me hither one morning, to be witness, as he said, of its +perfection, doomed me to be the first victim of my own pernicious +skill; lest, as he declared, I should divulge the secret, or repeat +the effort of my ingenuity. May God pardon him, as I hope he will me, +that ministered to his unhallowed purpose! Miserable wretch, whoe'er +thou art, that readest these lines, fall on thy knees, and invoke, as +I have done, His sustaining mercy, who alone can nerve thee to meet +the vengeance of Tolfi, armed with this tremendous engine which, in a +few hours, must crush _you_, as it will the needy wretch who made it." + +A deep groan burst from Vivenzio. He stood, like one transfixed, with +dilated eyes, expanded nostrils, and quivering lips, gazing at this +fatal inscription. It was as if a voice from the sepulchre had sounded +in his ears, "Prepare!" Hope forsook him. There was his sentence, +recorded in those dismal words. The future stood unveiled before him, +ghastly and appalling. His brain already feels the descending +horror--his bones seem to crack and crumble in the mighty grasp of the +iron walls! Unknowing what it is he does, he fumbles in his garment +for some weapon of self-destruction. He clenches his throat in his +convulsive gripe, as though he would strangle himself at once. He +stares upon the walls, and his warring spirit demands, "Will they not +anticipate their office if I dash my head against them?" An hysterical +laugh chokes him as he exclaims, "Why should I? He was but a man who +died first in their fierce embrace; and I should be less than man not +to do as much!" + +The evening sun was descending, and Vivenzio beheld its golden beams +streaming through one of the windows. What a thrill of joy shot +through his soul at the sight! It was a precious link, that united +him, for the moment, with the world beyond. There was ecstasy in the +thought. As he gazed, long and earnestly, it seemed as if the windows +had lowered sufficiently for him to reach them. With one bound he was +beneath them--with one wild spring he clung to the bars. Whether it +was so contrived, purposely to madden with delight the wretch who +looked, he knew not; but, at the extremity of a long vista, cut +through the solid rocks, the ocean, the sky, the setting sun, olive +groves, shady walks, and, in the farthest distance, delicious glimpses +of magnificent Sicily, burst upon his sight. How exquisite was the +cool breeze as it swept across his cheek, loaded with fragrance! He +inhaled it as though it were the breath of continued life. And there +was a freshness in the landscape, and in the rippling of the calm +green sea, that fell upon his withering heart like dew upon the +parched earth. How he gazed, and panted, and still clung to his hold! +sometimes hanging by one hand, sometimes by the other, and then +grasping the bars with both, as loth to quit the smiling paradise +outstretched before him; till exhausted, and his hands swollen and +benumbed, he dropped helpless down, and lay stunned for a considerable +time by the fall. + +When he recovered, the glorious vision had vanished. He was in +darkness. He doubted whether it was not a dream that had passed before +his sleeping fancy; but gradually his scattered thoughts returned, and +with them came remembrance. Yes! he had looked once again upon the +gorgeous splendour of nature! Once again his eyes had trembled +beneath their veiled lids, at the sun's radiance, and sought repose in +the soft verdure of the olive-tree, or the gentle swell of undulating +waves. Oh, that he were a mariner, exposed upon those waves to the +worst fury of storm and tempest; or a very wretch, loathsome with +disease, plague-stricken, and his body one leprous contagion from +crown to sole, hunted forth to gasp out the remnant of infectious life +beneath those verdant trees, so he might shun the destiny upon whose +edge he tottered! + +Vain thoughts like these would steal over his mind from time to time, +in spite of himself; but they scarcely moved it from that stupor into +which it had sunk, and which kept him, during the whole night, like +one who had been drugged with opium. He was equally insensible to the +calls of hunger and of thirst, though the third day was now commencing +since even a drop of water had passed his lips. He remained on the +ground, sometimes sitting, sometimes lying; at intervals, sleeping +heavily; and when not sleeping, silently brooding over what was to +come, or talking aloud, in disordered speech, of his wrongs, of his +friends, of his home, and of those he loved, with a confused mingling +of all. + +In this pitiable condition, the sixth and last morning dawned upon +Vivenzio, if dawn it might be called--the dim, obscure light which +faintly struggled through the ONE SOLITARY window of his dungeon. He +could hardly be said to notice the melancholy token. And yet he did +notice it; for as he raised his eyes and saw the portentous sign, +there was a slight convulsive distortion of his countenance. But what +did attract his notice, and at the sight of which his agitation was +excessive, was the change his iron bed had undergone. It was a bed no +longer. It stood before him, the visible semblance of a funeral couch +or bier! When he beheld this, he started from the ground; and, in +raising himself, suddenly struck his head against the roof, which was +now so low that he could no longer stand upright. "God's will be +done!" was all he said, as he crouched his body, and placed his hand +upon the bier; for such it was. The iron bedstead had been so +contrived, by the mechanical art of Ludovico Sforza, that as the +advancing walls came in contact with its head and feet, a pressure was +produced upon concealed springs, which, when made to play, set in +motion a very simple though ingeniously-contrived machinery, that +effected the transformation. The object was, of course, to heighten, +in the closing scene of this horrible drama, all the feelings of +despair and anguish, which the preceding ones had aroused. For the +same reason, the last window was so made as to admit only a shadowy +kind of gloom rather than light, that the wretched captive might be +surrounded, as it were, with every seeming preparation for +approaching death. + +Vivenzio seated himself on his bier. Then he knelt and prayed +fervently; and sometimes tears would gush from him. The air seemed +thick, and he breathed with difficulty; or it might be that he fancied +it was so, from the hot and narrow limits of his dungeon, which were +now so diminished that he could neither stand up nor lie down at his +full length. But his wasted spirits and oppressed mind no longer +struggled within him. He was past hope, and fear shook him no more. +Happy if thus revenge had struck its final blow; for he would have +fallen beneath it almost unconscious of a pang. But such a lethargy of +the soul, after such an excitement of its fiercest passions, had +entered into the diabolical calculations of Tolfi; and the fell +artificer of his designs had imagined a counteracting device. + +The tolling of an enormous bell struck upon the ears of Vivenzio! He +started. It beat but once. The sound was so close and stunning, that +it seemed to shatter his very brain, while it echoed through the rocky +passages like reverberating peals of thunder. This was followed by a +sudden crash of the roof and walls, as if they were about to fall upon +and close around him at once. Vivenzio screamed, and instinctively +spread forth his arms, as though he had a giant's strength to hold +them back. They had moved nearer to him, and were now motionless. +Vivenzio looked up, and saw the roof almost touching his head, even as +he sat cowering beneath it; and he felt that a farther contraction of +but a few inches only must commence the frightful operation. Roused as +he had been, he now gasped for breath. His body shook violently--he +was bent nearly double. His hands rested upon either wall, and his +feet were drawn under him to avoid the pressure in front. Thus he +remained for more than an hour, when that deafening bell beat again, +and again there came the crash of horrid death. But the concussion was +now so great that it struck Vivenzio down. As he lay gathered up in +lessened bulk, the bell beat loud and frequent--crash succeeded +crash--and on, and on, and on came the mysterious engine of death, +till Vivenzio's smothered groans were heard no more! He was horribly +crushed by the ponderous roof and collapsing sides--and the flattened +bier was his _Iron Shroud_. + + +PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Minor changes have been made to correct obvious typesetters' errors; +otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the authors' +words and intent. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tales from "Blackwood", by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD" *** + +***** This file should be named 31826.txt or 31826.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/8/2/31826/ + +Produced by D Alexander, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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